Hime Monogatari
by Llyhael Aquila
Summary: AU. Rukia was a daughter of a success businessman, Kuchiki Byakuya. When she insisted to go to a normal school instead of Private School, she met this Ulquiorra Schiffer, a stoic green-eyed student, and Rukia's adventure began. ON HIATUS. POSSIBLE REMAKE
1. Brand New School Life!

**Hime Monogatari**

_Chapter 1: Brand New School Life!_

"But, Mom! I really want to have a normal school life like other teenagers do!" Rukia said to her mother one day on the end of summer when they were having afternoon tea. She said it in a begging tone with those puppy eyes of her.

Kuchiki Hisana, being rather an overprotective mother, sighed desperately to her only daughter. "Rukia-chan, I think we have discussed this so many times that you know my answer too well, don't you?" she spoke softly to Rukia, looking right into her daughter's navy eyes.

And Rukia, being as tough as always, sighed for the twelfth time during their conversation.

"You won't move me to an ordinary school, will you?"

"No, I won't, Sweetheart," Hisana said as she patted Rukia's head.

Angry and depressed since her 'proposal' to attend an ordinary school instead of having private school had been rejected for the fifty-seventh time, Rukia leaned back into the chair roughly.

"Mom, really, I hate all of the private school stuff," the teenager said, "I'm bored with it."

Since she was in elementary school, Kuchiki Rukia had been lectured by the teachers from her private school. Everyday, she spent more than five hours for hearing some boring lecture from those teachers in her studying room, specially made by her parents for her. No classmates, any fun lunchtime with friends, no chatting with other friends before the school began; just plain and so boring. That was why she was sick of those oh-so-boring teachers.

"Please understand, my dear. It's all for your safety," Hisana said, "You know, as the head of Kuchiki Company, your father has plenty enemies out there who will take the chance to kidnap you and use you—"

"As a hostage to treat Dad," Rukia cut off her mother words and finished them herself. She had heard that too many times, and she knew them too well.

"See, you know," Hisana smiled to her.

Rukia sighed again and turned her gaze to her father who was enjoying the tea along with herself and her mother on their 'little' garden of the Kuchiki Manor.

"Please, say something Dad?"

Kuchiki Byakuya, the head of the most powerful corporation right now; the head of Kuchiki Company, sighed silently.

"Hisana, Rukia's a teenager already, just let her do what she wants," he said before sipping his ginger tea. "Besides, she deserves to experience a normal school life. You can go to Karakura High School after summer vacation has ended, Rukia."

Hisana's eyes widened in shock when she heard her husband's words; did her husband just say that their one-and-only daughter could go to the dangerous environment out there? Oh, no. She had to prevent their beloved daughter to go to the dangerous places out there.

"But, Dear, she's just—"

"I owe you everything, Dad!" Rukia yelled happily and hugged her dad, not giving her mother a chance to argue her father's decision.

--###--

Examining her surroundings with her large eyes, Rukia found that Karakura High School was better than she expected it to be. The building was quite new; it had a large yard and nice running track. Oh, and the gym was good too.

"Nervous, Rukia-chan?" Matsumoto Rangiku, Rukia's most loyal maid, best friend, and best 'sister' all at once, asked her in sing-song voice.

Rukia turned her head, looking at Rangiku sitting next to her, smiling nervously. "Pretty much," the raven-haired girl said, "Since I got here when the new semester began, I won't be in the same grade with you, Ran-nee-chan. Though I'm glad enough that you don't mind leaving your old school and accompanying me to this school."

Rangiku smiled kindly to her and patted her head. "Don't worry, Rukia-chan! Everything's gonna be okay, and I'm sure we're gonna have a fun adventure at this school!" she said, punching her fist in the air.

Rukia lightly chuckled and nodded. "Let's go!"

Once they entered the school's building, Rukia and Rangiku quickly went to the principal's office. There, they were given everything they needed; the classes they were going to attend, schedule, and were introduced to the teachers in charge of their classes. After that, the teachers led them to their own classes. Rukia's class, 1-A, was on the first floor, while Rangiku's one, the 2-D, was on the second floor.

"Attention, class!" Ochi-sensei, the teacher who had led Rukia, said once they had reached 1-A, "We have a new student today, and her name is Kuchiki Rukia."

Then, Ochi-sensei turned her attention to Rukia, smiling kindly. "Please, introduce yourself, Kuchiki-san," she said.

Rukia nodded and obediently introduced herself. "Hello! My name is Kuchiki Rukia, nice to meet you all!" she said before bowing to the students before her.

"Thank you, Kuchiki-san," Ochi-sensei said again, "Now, you can take your seat, it's on the fifth line of the second row from the window, right there," the teacher said, pointing a desk next to the boy who was staring at the schoolyard through the window.

Rukia nodded and walked to her desk. After she sat there, she looked to the boy sat next to her. She could tell that the boy's appearance was quite unusual; he had very pale skin that most of people would think he had never been in sunlight. And his hair was brilliant black that matched his pale skin, cut in shoulder-length layers. He also had a pair of emerald green eyes, which somehow seemed to lack emotion.

Being a new student in the class, Rukia felt the need to be nice to her new classmates and planned to greet them. First, she began with the boy sat right next to her.

"Hello, nice to meet you," she said, smiling at the green-eyed boy.

However, the boy just ignored her. He kept staring at the schoolyard with a bored expression on his face.

Honestly, Rukia was a bit taken a back at his reaction—or there was lack of. Was this boy deaf? Rukia decided that maybe the boy just didn't hear her because her voice was too low, and she put on another try. This time, she spoke a bit louder.

"My name's Rukia, may I know yours?"

This time, the boy rolled his perfect green eyes from the yard to Rukia. But when Rukia thought he would answer her question, the pale-skinned boy just turned his gaze back to the schoolyard again.

That's it! If he really wanted to play deaf, fine! Rukia would ignore his presence as well. Glaring at the boy for one last time, she pulled her book out of her bag and began to focus on the lecture Mrs. Ochi was giving.

Who was that boy anyway?

"Oh, that boy!" one of Rukia's new classmates, Inoue Orihime, a cheerful girl with orange hair, said to the blue-eyed Kuchiki during the break time after Rukia asked about the green-eyed boy. "His name is Ulquiorra Schiffer," Orihime said again, clasping her hands.

Raising a delicate eyebrow, Rukia asked again, "Ulquiorra Schiffer? Did he come from another country? Ulquiorra Schiffer is definitely not a Japanese name."

Orihime put a finger on her own chin and seemed thought. "Well, I don't know. No one in this class knows anything about him except for his name and that he's a genius."

"Is he that clever?"

The orange-headed girl nodded energetically. "Oh yes. He's the number one among the whole first year students," she said, "He got the first rank on the entrance test since he got full marks for every subject tested, you know."

Rukia's eyes widened. What?! First rank and full marks for every single subject?! This Ulquiorra must be very brainy!

"That's why the teachers are never angry at him though he doesn't pay any attention to the lectures they're giving; he does perfectly at any tasks the teachers give him," Orihime added.

Geez… Right then, Rukia just started to hate this Ulquiorra already. Half of her hatred was because the bad attitude Ulquiorra had, and the other half was because she pretty much felt envy at how smart he was.

--###--

"Oh, so you've found an eye-catching guy already on the first day of the school?" Rangiku asked, smirking to the young Kuchiki when Rukia told her beloved maid/friend/sister about the stoic, green-eyed boy after dinner.

Rukia frowned a bit. "It's not like what you're thinking, Nee-chan!" she demanded, "I'm just wondering how smart he is since he got the first rank on the test. Though he's a real jerk."

"Still," Rangiku said, still smirking mockingly, "that means you're attracted to this Schiffer-boy, right?"

"Ran-nee-chan! It's not-"

"Yeah, yeah, as you wish, my Princess!" Rangiku waved her hand in dismissive manner in front of Rukia.

Rukia sighed to the elder girl. Sometimes, Rangiku could be as annoying as hell, indeed. Though she had knew her since she was very young — it had been nine years since the first time she met Rangiku, when her father started to work in Kuchiki household — however she still couldn't completely understand the way the wavy-haired girl thought.

"So, say it, Rukia-chan," Matsomoto spoke up again.

"What?"

"Is he handsome?"

"Nee-chan!"

Matsumoto just laughed hysterically and banged her fist on the table near by when Rukia gave her glare to the wave-haired girl.

While the two teenagers were talking about Rukia's first day in the 'normal' school—or mostly about her encounter with a certain boy, Hisana was talking about a serious matter to her husband in their room.

"Dear, are you sure it'll be okay to let her attend an ordinary school?"

Byakuya looked right into his wife's eyes with a comforting look. "Don't worry, Hisana. I've settled everything for her."

"But Dear," Hisana said in a worried tone, "What about 'them'? They're looking for a chance to get you down, am I right?"

Sighing, Byakuya rubbed his temples. "Yes, you're right," he said.

Hearing the answer of the man in front of her, Hisana's eyes grew eider in fear. "Doesn't that mean Rukia is in a grave danger?"

Byakuya closed his eyes and brought his wife into his arms, comforting her. "Don't worry, Hisana. I've told my men to call _him_."

--###--

In the dark, gloomy room, there was only a light came from a single laptop's screen, glinting in the darkness and making some eerie shadows on the room's wall. Suddenly, the laptop made a familiar 'beep' voice, noting that there was new message for the owner, a new job request.

Standing eagerly from his bed, the boy in his black, long-sleeved t-shirt approached his laptop that was laid on his quite messy desk, which was filled by so many unordinary things; a micro-sized camera, some bugs, some wireless earphones, four microchips, and other unusual stuff.

Once he reached at the laptop, he quickly opened the message and read it. Like he had suspected before, it was a job request sent by another big corporation that asked him to do another agent's things. Quickly he read message, the detail of the order.

And under the message, there was a picture of the 'target', a fifteen year old girl with black, shoulder-length hair and big dark blue eyes, as well as her database. The girl's name was Kuchiki Rukia.

After reading the message and the database of the target, he deleted them, making sure that his client's secret was safe. Then the boy leaned back on his office chair and stared blankly at the laptop's screen.

"Kuchiki… Rukia…" he stated. Two emerald-green eyes of his were glinting in the dark, reflecting the light from the screen in front of him.

--TO BE CONTINUED--

* * *

_**A/N:**_ _yeah, so this is the first chapter. Hope you guys enjoy it as much I enjoyed writing it. I really love this UlquiXRuki pairing! Anyway, I know this story is soooooooooooooo far, far away from perfect, and I'm terribly sorry for the wrong grammars/ wrong tenses/ wrong spellings I made in this story. Anyone want to help me fix this mess please? Oh, and I'm waiting for any constructive reviews—or flames—as well!_

_**Disclaimer:**_ _I don't own BLEACH, really, because it belongs to Tite Kubo-sensei._

_**Thanks for reading! Review would be nice! n_n**_


	2. Target

**Hime Monogatari**

_Chapter 2: Target_

Another morning had come. That meant there was another adventure awaiting her at school. Thinking only about this fact had made Rukia feel so happy. After all, she really was longing to go to a normal school since she was a little girl.

"You look so happy this morning, Sweetheart," her mother said to her while they were having their family breakfast.

Rukia smiled brightly to her mother, "I am very happy, Mom."

Hisana, being as protective as ever, felt worried about her daughter's well being. And her conversation with her husband last night just made her worry grows. Was Rukia going to be okay at the school since she had rejected her mother's advice about bringing some bodyguards? What if someone kidnapped her on her way to school?

With those fearsome thoughts about her daughter, Hisana unconsciously bit her lower lip rather hard.

Seeing her mother's familiar habit when she was worried, Rukia could guess what her mother was thinking about. She turned her attention from her toast and smiled to her mother.

"Mom, I'm gonna be alright. Trust me," Rukia said.

Quickly, Hisana smiled to her daughter, trying to hide her worry. "I know, Sweetheart."

Then Hisana rolled her eyes to her husband, Byakuya, who was staring at her with those you-don't-have-to-be-worried look on his eyes. Feeling a bit more comfortable now, Hisana smiled to her husband. Well, maybe she was just being paranoid. After all, Byakuya did tell her that he had hired _him _to protect Rukia secretly (since Rukia didn't know, therefore she couldn't reject _his _presence).

"Mom, Dad," Rukia called both of her parents as she got up from her chair, "I'm going to school. Ran-nee-chan must be waiting for me right now. See you later Mom, Dad!"

Rukia quickly grabbed her bag and walked toward the front door of their manor.

"Be safe, Sweetheart!" Hisana said to her daughter right before Rukia's figure disappeared from her sight.

"Don't worry, Hisana," Byakuya said to his wife with his usual monotone voice, though his wife knew better; even though his voice seemed emotionless, deep down in his heart, he really did care for the ones he loved. "_He_ will protect her," he added.

"I hope so…" Hisana murmured.

--###--

"Good morning, Kuchiki-san!" Orihime greeted the raven-haired girl with a bright smile.

"Good morning, Inoue-san!" Rukia greeted back to her orange-haired friend.

"Yo, Rukia!" Abarai Renji, a boy with flaming red hair put into a high ponytail, greeted her with a friendly grin.

"Good morning, Renji!" Rukia smiled to him, then she rolled her eyes and find a still-so-sleepy orange haired boy sat not far from Renji, Kurosaki Ichigo. "Good morning for you too, Ichigo!"

"Morning," Ichigo replied sleepily, waving his hand carelessly to the petite Kuchiki.

"Ne, Kuchiki-san, would you like to join us on the lunchtime this day? We usually having lunch on the roof top and we'll be happy if you can join us," Orihime said to Rukia, still with the bright smile on her face. "And Tatsuki-chan, Ishida-kun, and Sado-kun will join us as well!" the orange-haired girl named some of their classmates who usually hanging out with her.

"Sure. It'll be fun," Rukia said, smiling back to Orihime.

But suddenly, Rukia's smile disappeared, right after she caught a glimpse of a certain stoic, green-eyed boy, Ulquiorra Schiffer. She saw him walk into the class with the same bored expression like yesterday. What the hell was wrong with him?! If he was so damn bored with this school, then why didn't he just skip the school and go somewhere else?! Just to see his stoic face was enough to make Rukia's blood boil; she was still angry at Ulquiorra's rude attitude at their first encounter.

Somehow, as she watched Ulquiorra sit on his chair next to the window with rather murderous glare, Rukia heard a soft whisper came from two of her classmates named… oh, well, she didn't remember their names.

"Look! Today, he's just as cool as yesterday!" whispered one of the two girls.

"Are you blind?!" the other one replied in the same low tone as her friend's, "He's looked even cooler than yesterday!"

Hearing the two's whispers, Rukia's eyes widened in disbelief. What the—?! Ulquiorra?! Cool?! Hell no! He was just an annoyingly stoic jerk who was gifted with cleverness, nothing more! Irritated, Rukia glared again at the green-eyed boy. However, Ulquiorra moved his gaze from the window to his surroundings. And soon, his eyes met with Rukia's purple ones.

As their eyes met, Rukia realized that actually, Ulquiorra's eyes were really beautiful. They were deep green, and looked like emeralds. And when you looked into them, you would feel like you were drowning into a deep, green, cool lake. It was like you couldn't hide anything from those eyes, like the eyes were x-raying you right to your core. Those green eyes were really hypnotizing (though Rukia would never admit it).

Suddenly, Rukia felt her cheeks were burning. Quickly, she moved her gaze from Ulquiorra, back to her friends. Great. Now, she was blushing just because she looked into that jerk's green eyes. Really great.

"Oi, Rukia, are you alright?" Renji asked the petite girl, raising his eyebrow, as he saw those red tints crossed Rukia's cheeks.

"Wh-what? Oh, of course I'm alright," Rukia stuttered.

Orihime, who was realizing that her friend was blushing, asked her too. "Your cheeks are red. Are you sure you're okay? Or maybe you caught a fever?" she asked rather worried.

"Yeah," Rukia smiled, trying to calm herself so that her cheeks' color would back to normal, "I'm sure I'm fine."

--###--

When lunchtime finally came, Rukia quickly joined her friends and went to the rooftop to enjoy their bento. The rooftop they went to was the rooftop of the main building. It was vast, and from there, you could see the entire school, including the gymnasium, which was located on the corner of the school, next to the running track. You could even catch a glimpse of the numerous trees behind the gymnasium from this rooftop.

"Aah~… finally!" Tatsuki Arisawa, a tomboyish girl with short, black hair, said, stretching her slim body. "Lunch!" she said again as she stepped on to the rooftop.

"Let's eaaaaaat!" Renji yelled energetically, causing everyone there laughed at his rather childish action.

"What are you guys laughing at, huh?!" the red-headed boy asked, glaring at his friends.

"Maa, maa, let's sit and eat our bento!" Orihime said. "By the way, anyone want to try my bento? I was trying a new recipe!" she chirped happily, opening her lunch box and revealing the weirdest meal they had ever seen. It was a mixture of curry rice with banana and pineapple!

Rukia and the others quickly answered Orihime's offer with a bold, yet polite enough, 'No thank you'.

And with that, the arguments between Orihime and Tatsuki about the orange-haired girl's lunch began, while the others just ignored the two and started to enjoy their lunch. They ate their bento silently, watching the weird debate between the tomboyish girl and her best buddy about 'what the right curry should be made from'.

Rukia, being one who had never experienced having a lunch with her classmates, was really happy with this situation. For her, it was the first time, and she really liked to try something new. In her opinion, having lunch with her classmates was really relaxing. It was very different from having lunch or dinner with her father's business partner's family, which was very uncomfortable; she had to act in a ladylike manner, which was really tiring for her.

Silently, Rukia smiled at her new friends. She really liked her new school life, and it was all thanks to her beloved father who gave the permission to go to this school.

Still smiling, Rukia watched her friends a bit more before she threw her gaze to the running track beneath them, watching some students walked across the track. Ah, they were just as happy as her, right?

As her gaze moved to the gymnasium, she caught a sight of a familiar figure: black, shoulder-length hair, pale skin, walked with both hands in pockets. Ulquiorra Schiffer? Raising an eyebrow, Rukia looked more carefully at the figure walking near the gym. Where was he going?

Curious, Rukia approached the guardrail on the edge of the rooftop so that she got a better look at Ulquiorra. Wait! He went to back of gymnasium! What was he going to do there? Rukia wondered. It was weird to see the top student among the first years went to a place where most of the school's troublemakers hang out (Rukia got this information from Renji).

"Is there something wrong, Rukia?" Ichigo asked when he saw Rukia stood on the edge of the rooftop for a moment with a raised eyebrow.

Rukia turned her head quickly and smiled to the carrot-top boy. "Oh, nothing, Ichigo," she said as she walked back to her former spot.

--###--

"What?! To the back of the gym?!" Rangiku asked in disbelief. "Are you sure you will go there alone, Rukia-chan?"

The petite girl with purple eyes nodded firmly. "Yes, I'm sure, Ran-nee-chan."

Rangiku's eyes widened. "Rukia-chan! That's the place where most of the bad students hang out you know, especially after school! That place is th-their… their base! Their hideout!" the strawberry-blonde tried to explain to the younger girl about how dangerous it could be to go there all alone. "Besides, we have to go home right after the school. Otherwise, Hisana-sama will be worried and mad at us!"

Rukia smiled her infamous it's-gonna-be-ok-just-trust-me smile to Rangiku. "I just want to go there for a while, Nee-chan. Just to… check on something. It won't take a long time, so I think it's gonna be ok and we still can get home right on time," she said, looking at the silver watch on her left wrist.

"But Rukia-chan at least—"

"Wait for me in front of the gate, okay?" Rukia said as she ran toward the gym, not even waiting for Rangiku to finish her sentence.

"Rukia-chan!" Rangiku yelled to the raven-haired girl's back, but the said girl just ignored her and kept running.

Rangiku let out a breath and shook her head. Then she turned her back and walked toward the school's gate. It looked like she had to wait for Rukia for a while now.

Rukia kept running to the gym. Sure, she was curious about what Ulquiorra did at the back of the gym around the lunchtime. And her curiosity got the better of her, defeating her logic about how dangerous it could be to come to the 'most dangerous place of the entire school.' Well she was Kuchiki Rukia after all, a tough and pretty stubborn girl. Sometimes, she could be really confident that nothing bad would happen to her; too confident for her own good.

Finally, Rukia reached at the back of the gymnasium. And now, she could fully understand why all those troublemakers picked this place as their so-called hideout. The place was pretty gloomy since it was surrounded by numerous high trees, hidden from the people's eyes (especially from teachers' and prefects' eyes). Rukia was sure enough that those infamous troublemakers would be safe here; planning their next pranks or just skipping some classes and hiding here, under the protection of the trees' shadows.

As her eyes examined her shadowy surroundings, her mind began to wonder more and more about what that stoic boy did here, on the nest of the 'gangsters'. Did he hide something here? Or did he come here to meet someone?

Suddenly, some questions popped out in her mind, snapping her out of her curiosity: why the heck did she care about what that jerk Ulquiorra did here?! Was she his mother, his caretaker, or what?! What was it between Ulquiorra and her curiosity?!

Twitching slightly at her own questions, Rukia glared at her surrounding, like it was the innocent place's fault that she was here in this very moment. Then she closed her eyes and shook her head. What if her Nee-chan's words were true, that she was—somehow—attracted to Ulquiorra Schiffer (which made her become so curious about him)? Rukia's eyes snapped open at her own thought. What?! She?! Attracted to him?! To that walking ice cube?! Hell no! What was wrong with her and her head today?! Stupid brain! Please think properly!!!

While Rukia was busy cursing her own mind, someone walked silently behind her. This person walked very quietly, like a cat. He approached Rukia's petite figure and he placed his left palm on her shoulder, causing her heart to nearly jump out of her chest in surprise.

Narrowing her eyes in surprise, fear, and anger, Rukia turned quickly. She went to see who the culprit who for nearly giving her a heart attack and, honestly, she was really tempted to slap this person, regardless of who it was.

Once she had turned around completely, her purple eyes found a tall boy with long, black hair and one scary eye (the other eye—the left one—was covered by an eye patch) standing before her. Rukia blinked a few times before she really realized that the boy in front of her was smirking at her.

Uh-oh. This couldn't be a good sign, and there were a few reasons why Rukia thought so. 1) This scary-looking boy was smirking a perverted, maniac smirk at her. 2) The place she was standing on right now was 'the most dangerous place all over the school' A.K.A. 'the nest of the gangsters and troublemakers', meaning this boy might be the one of those said gangsters-slash-troublemakers as well. 3) If this boy really was one of those bad guys (which Rukia was 99.99% sure that he was), Rukia had no one to help her to escape this situation. Right now, Rukia was, indeed, in trouble, thank you very much.

"Hiya, Ojou(*)-chan!" said the creepy boy, still smirking. "Watcha doin' here, eh?" he asked as he took a step closer to Rukia.

Scared, Rukia took a step back out of her instinct. Now, her alert sensor had been activated and the so-called sensor told her about one thing: this boy with maniac smirk was 100% dangerous.

But before she could say anything or make any excuse to escape, another you'd-better-stay-away-from-him boy appeared. This newcomer had teal-colored hair and eyes. Both of his hands were stuffed in his pockets, and he looked a bit surprised to see that his friend—who was still smirking manically to Rukia— was accompanied here, at their hideout.

Raising his teal-colored eyebrow, the boy approached his friend and asked to the black-haired, maniac boy, "What are you doing here with this Kuchiki girl, Nnoitora?"

Hearing this, Rukia's eyes widened in surprise. Did this teal-haired boy know her?

The maniac—who was called as Nnoitora—turned his head to his friend, still smirking slightly. "Oh, so her name's Kuchiki?" Nnoitora said, "If yer so fuckin' curious, better ask Ms. Kuchiki herself, Grimmjow. I have no fuckin' idea why she's here."

Thrusting forward, Grimmjow turned his attention to Rukia. He stared—or more precisely glared—at her before asking in a harsh tone, "Oi, girl, what the hell are you doing here? Spying on us, or what?"

Panicked, Rukia began to think about what she should say. She really needed to pick her answer carefully. One wrong answer and maybe these guys would beat her into a pulp, or worse; rape her.

Rukia shivered in discomfort at her own thought. She gulped and tried to calm herself so that she could give an acceptable answer and make these guys let her go peacefully. If she said she was here because she wanted to know about what Ulquiorra Schiffer did here around the lunchtime, would they let her go? Ugh, seemed not…

"Well?!" Grimmjow asked again.

Shoot! Her mind seemed freeze as well as her legs now. She couldn't think of any excuse at all! What should she say? What?! This time Rukia just wanted to run, away from these creepy boys and go home with her Nee-chan. Oh, if only she obeyed Rangiku's advice to just go home…

"Oi, girl! Are you mute?! I'm asking you!" Grimmjow said, twitching in anger.

Snickering, Nnoitora leaned closer to Rukia, much to Rukia's discomfort. "Better answer him, or he'll be so fuckin' angry, ya know," he said mockingly.

Rukia gulped. She knew she was in trouble right now. Finally, the time when her curiosity led her into trouble had come—like they said; "curiosity kills the cat". And all of this damn trouble was caused by her curiosity on a certain blank looking jerk?! How pathetic…

Having no made-up answer, Rukia decided to just tell the truth about why she was here on the first place. She didn't know what the creepy boys would do to her after they heard her answer, but… well, she'd better answer now or the teal-haired boy with short temper would slam her face against the ground in a moment.

Trying to answer as calm as she could, but failing, she stuttered, "Erm… well, I-I'm—"

But suddenly, Rukia's answer was cut off by a deep melancholic voice of a male.

"What are you doing there, Grimmjow, Nnoitora?"

Rukia, Grimmjow and Nnoitora turned to the source of the voice, finding none other than the pale-skinned Ulquiora Schiffer standing a few feet from the three of them; hands in his pockets, his face held the same expression as ever: blank. He was looking intently at his… well… friends in front of him, examining them with his usual calculating look.

"Ah, Ulquiorra Schiffer, the top student from 1-A class," Grimmjow said sarcastically.

Ulquiorra, being as calm and emotionless as ever, just stood on the spot and kept staring at the two boys with those big, green eyes, ignoring the sarcastic comment thrown by Grimmjow. He waited patiently, rather confidant that one of the boys would answer his question. And like other numerous times in his life, his deduction was proved to be right since Grimmjow did answer him (though with another twitch before he answered).

"We're interrogating an 'intruder' in our place," he said in a low hiss.

Really, Grimmjow looked like he was ready to kill Ulquiorra at anytime. Judging by his expression, Rukia could tell that Grimmjow hated the green-eyed boy just as much as he seemed to hate politeness that was always suggested by his elders and the teachers. And truth to be told, Rukia was wondering, was there any problem or a grudge between these two boys? Wait! Again, what was it with her curiosity and anything related to Ulquiorra?!

Raising one of his thin, delicate eyebrows, Ulquiorra gave the teal-haired boy a look before he approached him and Nnoitora. And after he was close enough to the two boys, he finally could see the so-called 'intruder'. He saw her petite figure stood there, hidden behind Nnoitora's back.

"Kuchiki Rukia," he stated her name, recognizing his classmate.

And for god's sake, Rukia was sure her mind was suffering an error or infected by some kind of virus right now. Why? Because, for the first time since she met this boy with deep-green eyes, she finally heard Ulquiorra speak to her. And somehow, his melancholic voice was comforting her; it made her a bit confident that she could leave this place—and those creepy boys, of course—in one piece, without any bruises at all. Oh, her heart even skipped beat when Ulquiorra's voice caressed her ears. Great, now, her heart was suffering some kind of error too.

Ulquiorra kept staring at Rukia's figure for a moment before turning his gaze to Nnoitora and Grimmjow. "There's a change on the plan. We won't discuss about _it _here. Nel thought it'd be safer at her place. She is waiting for us now," he said. Sparing no second glance to Rukia, he turned on his heels and left.

Though he thrust in annoyance, Grimmjow did walk after the green-eyed boy. And so did Nnoitora. The black-haired maniac left after he said, "See you soon," to Rukia with the same perverted smirk on his face.

After the three were out of her sight, Rukia felt the shivering feeling in her spine was slowly subsiding. She had managed to regain her usual composure now. The dangerous moment for her had passed, thanks to her luck… or should she thank Ulquiorra who had came before that Nnoitora and Grimmjow could do god-knows-what to her?

Rukia shook her head rather violently, trying to shake off the memories of those three boys—especially the one with those emerald-like eyes. She told herself to forget the three and everything that just happened a moment ago; no need to keep a bad memory in her head, after all. And she silently promised to herself to not let her curiosity get the better of her again.

However, as she began to walk away from the so-called hideout of the troublemakers, her mind betrayed her; she was once again wondering about Ulquiorra and his two friends. What were they going to discuss? What was the '_it'_ referred by Ulquorra about? Was it about a bad thing?

"What are they, just another bunch of troublemakers, or… Yakuza?" she mumbled, heading toward the school's gate where her Nee-chan had been waiting for her. Little did she know that they were not just ordinary troublemakers—though they weren't yakuza either.

While Rukia was walking out from the shadowy place, Ulquiorra and his friends had already passed the school's gate. Now, they were walking silently on the rather empty sidewalk, bathed in the light of the setting sun.

"Oi, Ulquiorra," Nnoitora called the pale boy, only to receive a questioning look from the said boy, gesturing him to spit out what was in his mind. "She'll be a rather fuckin' interesting 'target', won't she?"

Ulquiorra kept looking at his accompany for a while before he turned his gaze back to the pavement in front of him. "I don't care about it," he said in his usual bored tone.

Right, for Ulquiorra Schiffer, it didn't really matter whether the 'target' was interesting or not. The only matter was that she's his next 'target'.

--TO BE CONTINUED--

* * *

_**A/N:**__ Finally! Chapter two! Sorry it took me over two months just to update this chapter! I'm trapped in a hell named exam right now, and I hope I can go through it *laugh*. Now, let me say thanks to realityfling18, yume girl 91, Byakuya Sama, Ojou-sama, and kluxces for reading my fic and leaving the reviews ^^. Ah, and thank you very much to Cat Alex for beta-ing this chapter! ^^_

_**Disclaimer:**__ you all know that Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo._

_(*)'Ojou' means 'mistress' _

_Reviews and critics are very welcomed!_

_**Thanks for reading! **_**n_n**

9


	3. Suspicious Men

**Hime Monogatari**

_Chapter 3: Suspicious Men_

A black limousine entered the front garden of a big, European-styled house, the Ichimaru Household. The garden was really beautiful and very well groomed. It was filled by many kinds of beautiful flowers and trees. In the middle of the garden, stood a big fountain, which was circled by the pavement leading to the house.

Soon, the car stopped right in front of the main door of the house. The driver climbed out and opened the passenger's door. Then, a girl dressed in a white, knee-length dress stepped out of the car. She straightened her dress and examined her surrounding with her purple eyes. Kuchiki Rukia, for the first time in her life, was attending a ball held in the Ichimaru Household. Hn, this house was just as luxurious as Kuchiki Manor, she found out, though the Kuchiki's was Japanese-styled.

Feeling a bit nervous, Rukia inhaled the cool night air deeply.

"Are you ready, Rukia-sama?" someone spoke to her.

Turning around, she found a blond man in gray suit stood beside her. Rukia smiled to the said man, Izuru Kira, who had came to the ball with her.

"Yes, Izuru-san."

Izuru smiled back to her as he offered his arm, which she took gladly.

"Let's go then," Izuru said and led Rukia towards the big, white door in front of them.

A butler who stood right beside the door opened it nimbly. He bowed deeply to Rukia and Izuru, while the two just nodded to him and got in.

Right after they stepped their foot on the soft, red carpet inside the luxurious house, another butler greeted them. The butler, like the one before him, bowed deeply to them. Then, he spoke in a very polite manner, "Welcome to Ichimaru Household. Please, follow me to the dance hall."

Then, the butler led the two walked along the cozy corridor, climbed a big staircase—which was covered by another red carpet, and through another big corridor again. On the end of the corridor, the butler opened a dark brown door, revealing a big dance hall.

Quickly, Izuru led Rukia to step inside. Rukia looked around the hall; she saw many popular faces there; many businessmen, some actors and actresses, and even politicians.

Oh, boy…. Now, Rukia was really nervous. She didn't really like a party like this, especially when the party held by someone she hated the most: Ichimaru Gin. Really, party and Ichimaru was the worst combination Rukia had ever hoped.

Silently, Rukia regretted her decision to represent her father attending this ball. But then again, it wasn't like she had another choice except to come….

--###--

Earlier that day, her father summoned Rukia to the garden. He said he wanted to talk to her while having a tea there.

Knowing better than to make her father wait, Rukia quickly went to garden right after she got back from school. There, near the 'small' pond, she spotted her father sat with a man. When she was near enough, she found out that the man was Izuru Kira, the right-hand man of his father who had worked for him for about three years now.

She smiled to the blond man as she took a seat beside him, across her father.

"Dad, do you want to talk to me?" asked Rukia.

Byakuya nodded. "Yes, I do," he said, "You know Ichimaru Gin, my colleague, don't you?"

Ichimaru? Ergh… this couldn't be good. After all, everything about Ichimaru couldn't be good for Rukia because she hated that fox-faced man so damn much; he always managed to creep her out with that fox-smile of his. Though Rukia just hid her dislike to the said man and just nodded solemnly as an answer for her father's question.

"Tonight, he's going to hold a ball on his house for celebrating the twenty fifth anniversary of Ichimaru Ship-owners Firm. And he has invited me to come," Byakuya started to explain.

Uh-oh… Rukia got a bad feeling for this….

"But you know, tonight I have to accompany your Mom for her routine check up in the hospital, therefore, I can't attend the ball. That's why I want you to attend it as a representative of Kuchiki Company along with Izuru," Byakuya said again, eyeing the said man beside Rukia.

Rukia groaned mentally. She was fully aware that her mother wasn't as healthy as other thirty-six year old women; her mother easily got sick. The doctor said it was her inborn state, her weak immune system. That was why her mother needed to have a routine health check. And Rukia knew as well that her father, being a good and loving husband, would always accompany her mother to the hospital.

"Rukia," Byakuya called his daughter upon seeing the light twitch on her eyebrow, "I know you don't like any kind of party, but please understand that this ball is really important for our business relationship with Ichimaru Ship-owners Firm."

"I'm aware of that, Dad," Rukia said.

Byakuya closed his eyes and nodded. "Good. And you don't have to be worry, Izuru will help you there," Byakuya said.

As Rukia inhaled deeply, Izuru just smiled apologetically to her.

--###--

And that was why Rukia ended up in the ball at this very moment, greeting and smiling to some businessmen whom she didn't really know (she did so just because Izuru dragged her to them and said that they were her father's business partners), and feeling like a fool herself. Sometime, she wondered how the heck her father managed to attend a troublesome party like this just for the sake of their company.

"Tired?" Izuru asked the raven-haired girl after they finished their small talk with a tall man named Komamura Sajin, one of Byakuya's colleagues.

Rukia just nodded lightly. She felt really tired; smiling and acting as 'the princess of the Kuchiki Clan' was indeed tiring.

Smiling an understanding smile to her, Izuru patted the petite girl's shoulder. "I know you've never liked a party, but please be patient, Rukia-sama, for your father," said Izuru.

Rukia frowned, "I know, Izuru-san, I'll be patient no matter how bad I want to go home right now."

Izuru chuckled to her. But after receiving a glare from Rukia, he quickly stopped and cleared his throat. "I'll go get a drink for you, Rukia-sama, to ease your… bad mood…."

"Fine," Rukia answered simply, still in a bad mood—thanks to the ball.

A second later, Rukia found that Izuru had headed to get a drink for her. Heh… he sure was fast and efficient. No wonder Rukia's father trusted him so much.

The petite Kuchiki sighed and leaned on the wall behind her, closing her purple eyes and waiting for Izuru to come back with a drink—a juice, she hoped since she absolutely wouldn't drink any alcohol.

"Hi, Rukia-chan!" suddenly, a voice broke the little peaceful moment she had, and the worst was she knew this annoying voice too well….

Snapping her eyes open, Rukia found none other than the fox-faced with silver hair, Ichimaru Gin, stood in front of her. He was wearing a white suit with his infamous, creepy smile plastered on his face.

Rukia's purple eyes narrowed upon seeing the said man. She knew that she would meet this man in this ball since it was his ball, but she didn't expect it to be this soon.

"Ichimaru-san," she answered coldly, bowing a little to him (for the sake of Kuchiki's pride, she needed to be polite, even towards someone she hated).

"It's been a long time, eh? How're ya doin'?" Ichimaru asked casually.

Rukia could feel a sweat ran down her temple, this man really crept her out! But, of course, as a Kuchiki, Rukia didn't want to look weak, she tried her best to stand straight with her chin held high. No, she wouldn't let this fox-face see her fear.

"I'm fine," the raven-haired girl said, "What about you, Ichimaru-san?"

Ichimaru's smile grew even wider. "Ah, fine, as ya see," he said, moving closer to Rukia.

The said girl gulped nervously. What the heck did he want with her?! Why he always tried to frighten her?! Did he enjoy the fear held in her eyes? Was he a maniac? Or a lolicon…?

But seemed that heaven was still on Rukia's side as someone called Ichimaru, causing the said man stopped his 'let's make a girl (or a Kuchiki girl to be precise) cry' ritual.

"Hello, Ichimaru-san!" a melodic voice greeted the silver-haired man.

The voice belonged to a beautiful, green-haired woman with a melancholic expression. The said woman walked gracefully, approaching Ichimaru and Rukia. She smiled to them.

Rukia, upon seeing this woman came, gaped in awe and shock. She knew this woman! This green-haired woman was Neliel Tu Oderschvank, the famous model and actress! And the most important, she was Rukia's favorite actress!

Ichimaru greeted back to the woman, "Hello, Nel!" He then turned his head to Rukia and spoke to her, "Rukia-chan, meet Neliel, the famous model, the current icon of my owner-ships firm."

A bit flushed, Rukia hastily bowed to the beautiful woman before her, "Nice to meet you, I'm Kuchiki Rukia!"

Neliel bowed gracefully to the petite Kuchiki, "Nice to meet you too, Kuchiki-san."

"Da 'ya come here alone, Nel?" asked Ichimaru.

Neliel shook her head lightly, "No, I come here with my friend—" she said as she turned her head, looking straight to someone stood behind her, "—Ulquiorra Schiffer."

WHAT?! Rukia's eyes widened at the sight of her certain walking-ice-cube classmate. Ulquiorra was a friend of this famous model?! And he came to this ball with her?! How could this be?!

Ulquiorra moved closer to the three. The said boy bowed a little to Ichimaru. "Nice to meet you, Ichimaru-san," he said with his usual monotone voice, and then he moved his gaze to Rukia, "And good evening, Kuchiki Rukia."

"Good evening, Ulquiorra Schiffer," the raven-haired girl greeted back with mutual coldness in her voice. Heck, she hated the way Ulquiorra always addressed her with her full name.

"Ya both know each other?" Ichimaru asked the two teens.

"Yes," Rukia nodded, "We are classmates," she said, staring straight to Ulquiorra's eyes. And just like that, Rukia's mind voluntarily began to replay the certain event involving the green-eyed boy and his 'friends' in her head—like an automatic movie player, much to Rukia's dismay.

"_We won't discuss __**it**__ here."_

And, of course, the certain words said with by Ulquiorra began to replay in Rukia's ears as well, causing the petite girl groaned mentally. It irritated her very much. What was _'it_' they were talking about anyway? She couldn't catch or guess it.

"Something wrong?" Ichimaru asked to Rukia when he noted the irritated look flashed on her face.

"Nothing," Rukia answered solemnly.

Though he was still a bit curious about it, Ichimaru just shrugged it off. "Well then," he said to three guests, "I think I need 'ta see the other guests now, if 'ya excuse me."

And with that, the silver-haired man left the three to greet his other guests, saying hello and smiling to them (he was ALWAYS smiling anyway…).

Upon Ichimaru's depature, Izuru came back to Rukia with a glass of wine on his left hand, while his right hand held a glass of orange juice. He handed the juice to Rukia and smiled to Neliel and Ulquiorra.

"Hello, Neliel-san, it's a surprise to meet you here. And I see you have a friend with you," Izuru said to the green-haired lady, smiling kindly to her and Ulquiorra.

Neliel smiled back to him and nodded. "Yes, Izuru-san. Nice to meet you here. If I'm right, last time we meet was in Ichimaru-san's office, eh?" she spoke. "And yes, I come here with my friend, Ulquiorra—this is Izuru Kira," she said again, glancing to the boy stood beside her and motioning him to greet the blond man.

Ulquiorra nodded to Izuru, just like what he had done to Ichimaru, and greeted him plainly. But, Rukia, being the classmate who got too used to his blank look, caught a glimpse of something unusual in his green eyes. What was that? … Suspicion? Rukia couldn't put a finger on what was that flashed in his eyes since it was gone right the moment it appeared.

"Ah… nice to meet you too, Schiffer-kun," Izuru greeted back to Ulquiorra with the same smile still on his face.

After that, the four chatted for a while before Neliel made an excuse that she needed to greet her other acquaintances as well. Then, the green-haired lady walked away with Ulquiorra on her side and disappeaed in the crowd of the guests.

"So, he's your classmate?" suddenly Izuru asked to Rukia when Neliel and Ulquiorra had gone from their sight.

"Huh?" Rukia raised one of her delicate eyebrows. Why did he ask that so suddenly? Rukia was curious. And that look Ulquiorra gave to Izuru a moment ago…. What was it between the two?

"Is he?" Izuru asked again, looking straight to Rukia with a kind of worried—and a bit suspicious too—expression on his face.

Having no idea about why he was asking, Rukia reluctantly nodded. "Yes, he is."

"Hmm…" Izuru threw his gaze back to the crowd in front of him, though he was staring to nothing in particular. "I just think, Rukia-sama, that you'd better don't get too close to him," he said, "I think he's a bit… suspicious. I mean ho looks like… let's say, not a nice guy."

Surprised with Izuru's comment, Rukia merely blinked in confusion to the blond. Well, it wasn't like she had never felt that way about Ulquiorra… especially after her encounter with his 'friends'. But to have it spoken out loud by someone else was rather odd—particularly when someone who said it was someone who had just met the certain boy for the first time. Though Rukia still nodded in agreement nonetheless.

--###--

"So?" Neliel asked to the green-eyed boy after they were far enough from Rukia and Izuru.

"What?" Ulquiorra gave the said lady a questioning look.

Neliel chuckled a little before she spoke again, "Please, Ulquiorra. I know you too well, I know you have observed the two men we met a while ago," she pointed her well-manicured finger to him teasingly. "So, what do you think about them?"

Sighing, Ulquiorra closed his eyes, somewhat annoyed. "Fine. I found that they are both suspicious," he said.

Neliel smiled in interest at Ulquiorra's remark. "Suspicious?" she asked, "How so?"

The pale-skinned boy opened his eyes, saying nothing for a moment as he searched for the right words to describe the two men, Ichimaru and Izuru. "Well, Ichimaru Gin doesn't look like a reliable man. The way he acts, the way he speaks; he definitely always has _something_ planned for everything he does. I bet he has done some dirty plays on his business too," Ulquiorra explained.

Neliel nodded in agreement. "Hm… I must say that I agree with you. I myself never trust him," she said. "And about Izuru Kira?"

Ulquoirra stared at his green-haired friend for a moment before throwing away his stare to the dance floor not so far from him. "He has something up his sleeve," he finally said.

A bit confused, Neliel merely raised a brow to him, asking for a further explanation.

"I could see it in his eyes," Ulquiorra spoke, seeing Neliel's gesture to expalain more. "The glint in his eyes said that he's masking something, something that's definitely not a good thing," Ulquiorra said, "And somehow, he felt familiar to me."

Neliel blinked in surprise. "Familiar? Have you ever met him on one of your _jobs_?"

Shaking his head a little, Ulquiorra retorted plainly, "No. Besides, it's not his appearance that felt familiar, it's his name."

"What's with 'Izuru Kira'?"

"I don't know. I just felt that I have heard that name before… somewhere…" Ulquiorra said as he stared blankly as some couples danced along the music's rhythm.

Neliel looked at him for a moment, observing him. Though his appearance gave no clues about what he was thinking, Nel knew that inside Ulquiorra's head, there were wheels turning and turning, trying to remember where he had heard that name.

"Do you think they'll get on our way?" Neliel decided to ask him.

Ulquiorra turned his gaze from the floor dance to his friend, "One of them, yes."

"I see…" Nel said solemnly. "That means we have to prepare more for the coming events…."

Ulquiorra just nodded firmly at Neliel's statement. This time, his _job_ definitely would be a tough one.

--TO BE CONTINUED--

_**

* * *

A/N: **__so, here's the third chapter! :) Sorry if it looks like a filler. But, no, it is not. This chapter is important to introduce Izuru and Ichimaru since one of them would play a very important role that would change Rukia's life. ;)_

_Anyways, thank you so much for all the reviews I got from the last chapter, guys! And special thanks to Cat Alex for beta-ing this chapter! :D_

_**Disclaimer:**__ as you all know, BLEACH belongs to Kubo Tite._

**Review would be nice! n_n**


	4. School Trip, eh?

**Hime Monongatari**

_Chapter 4: School Trip, eh?_

The sun had nearly disappeared on the west horizon, causing the world to appear painted in blood. The sky, which was redder than the color of a Momiji tree's leaf, was decorated by some thin, orange clouds here and there. Soon, the night would fall, and the cool autumn air would grow even cooler.

A black limousine drove steadily on the main-road of Karakura Town. Inside the car, sat two girls in Karakura High School uniform, Kuchiki Rukia and Matsumoto Rangiku. They were on their way back from the school to Kuchiki Manor.

"Is there something wrong, Rukia-chan?" Rangiku asked the petite girl when she saw the unusual glint in her eyes. "You look … nervous," she added.

Rukia sighed heavily and leaned her head against the car's cold window. "I really am nervous, Nee-chan," said Rukia, "It's because of the school trip…. Ochi-sensei told us that the first-year students will have a school trip to Kyoto next week."

Upon hearing the words 'school trip', Rangiku's eyes lit up, a wide smile appearing on her lips. She leaned closer to Rukia and patted the raven-haired girl's shoulder cheerfully.

"Isn't that exciting, Rukia-chan? Your very first school trip!" she said excitedly. "You can visit tons of interesting places with your friends! And you can even try to find a boyfriend during the trip!" the strawberry-blond said with an amused expression, "No need to be nervous! It'll be fun, trust me!"

Rukia's brows furrowed and she shook her head. "Sure it'll be fun if there's no the _'you need your parents permission to go on the trip'_ part," she exclaimed. "I really don't have any idea about how I should ask their permission…. Besides, I doubt Mom will let me go… and I bet, right after I tell her about it, she will start to give me the long speech about how dangerous a school trip can be without having any bodyguards around," Rukia said, rubbing her temple anxiously.

Rangiku, being her usual cheerful and positive self, just laughed at Rukia's words. Then she patted the petite Kuchiki again, "Cheer up, Rukia-chan! Let's' hope Byakuya-sama will let you go for the trip so that pleading to Hisana-sama will be easier."

Shifting her gaze to the reddish scenery outside her window, Rukia realized that Rangiku was right; if she got the permission from her father, pleading her mother would be much easier. After all, her mother always trusted all of her father's decisions.

She mumbled softly more to herself than to her Nee-chan, "Yeah…. Dad."

--###--

When Rukia arrived in Kuchiki Manor, the first person she looked for was her father. Really, she just wanted to get over with this asking permission thing as fast as possible.

The petite girl walked hastily on the long, cozy corridor of her house leading to the library. Around this time, her father was usually there, reading some books and having some tea while waiting for the dinner. And when she finally faced the huge door of their private library on the end of the corridor, she quickly opened it and popped her head into the room.

"Dad?" she called for her father as her purple eyes roamed the vast room filled by bookshelves, making sure that he was really there.

"I am over here."

Rukia heard the reply came from around the corner of the room, behind a large, old bookshelf. The raven-haired girl then stepped into the library and closed the door behind her without a sound. After that, she walked towards the source of the voice. There, on the corner of the library, under the huge window, she found her father sat on a comfortable couch, reading a thick book with his usual aristocratic expression.

Upon seeing his daughter coming over, Byakuya lowered his book and moved his gaze from its pages to Rukia. He looked straight to his daughter's big eyes with a questioning look.

"Erm… Dad," Rukia said nervously, "May I talk to you?"

"I'm listening," said Byakuya with his monotonous voice.

"It's about my school trip."

Byakuya merely raised an eyebrow, asking a further explanation from his daughter.

--###--

Ulquiorra sat on a chair in a VIP hospital room. His green eyes were fixed on the ill figure sitting on the bed in front him, a figure of a forty year old, brown-haired man. As the man in front of him read the papers on his hands, Ulquiorra examined his appearance. He noticed that the man he had known for seven years had been thinner during these last three months, and he had grew even paler—though Ulquiorra was still paler than him.

"I see," the brown-haired man, Sousuke Aizen, said as he finished reading the papers given by Ulquiorra a moment ago. "So, you and Grimmjow will go for a school trip to Kyoto," he said again with a faint smile.

Ulquiorra nodded. "Yes," he said, "And we need our guardian's permission—your permission—for this trip."

"Ah, yes, yes," Aizen nodded lightly, still smiling, "Don't worry, I'll give you two the permission you need. What I have to do is just sign on these letters from your teachers, right?"

"Yes, Aizen-sama."

Then silence followed as Aizen took a pen from the nightstand next to his bed and put his signature on the permit letters from the school.

Ulquiorra sighed silently. To be honest, he didn't really want to go; it wasn't like he found that the trip interesting. Besides, right now was definitely not the right time for a trip, he thought, eyeing the ill figure in front of him. But… well, he needed to go; he had _something _to do during the upcoming trip.

"Anyways, Ulquiorra," Aizen called him, snapping the green-eyed boy back from his own thoughts, "Why are there only two letters? Where's Nnoitora's?" he asked, handing the papers back to the pale-skinned boy.

Taking the papers back, Ulquiorra answered his guardian's question with his usual plain tone, "Nnoitora said he has no interest in this program, therefore he didn't give his letter to you; he won't go."

"I see then," the brown-haired man said.

"Thank you for the permission, Aizen-sama," Ulquiorra said as he got up from the chair. He then bowed deeply to his guardian before turned on his heel and walked to the door.

The green-eyed boy stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him smoothly. He then drifted to three figures standing not so far from him. Ulquiorra moved closer to the three.

"Have you met the doctor?" he asked with his deep and seemingly emotionless voice.

"Yeah," Grimmjow, who was leaning on the wall next to Nnoitora, was the one who answered solemnly.

"So?"

Shaking her head a little, Neliel answered sadly, "The cancer cells have grew too strong, there's nothing we can do. Aizen-sama's life wouldn't last more than two months."

--###--

The sun was shining brightly in the clear autumn sky this morning. The wind, though it was still cool, wasn't as cool as yesterday—thanks to the sunshine.

Ah… what a perfect day for a trip.

With a happy and triumphant smile, Rukia stood on the front schoolyard, along with the other first-year students. They were listening to Yahiko-sensei's short announcement about their schedules—including the places they'd visit—during their time in Kyoto. But, actually, no one was really listening since they were too excited chatting about how fun this trip would be (after all, they would get the written schedule, so why bother to listen?). Soon, they would depart to the station, and take the shinkansen to Kyoto.

"Kuchiki-san," Orihime, who stood right beside the petite girl, spoke to her with a cheerful smile, "I'm glad your parents allowed you to join this school trip with us."

Rukia smiled back to the orange-haired girl. "I'm glad as well, Inoue-san," she said, remembering how hard the efforts she had undertaken just to gain her father's signature on the permit letter and a 'you may go' from her mother.

Yesterday, if you want to know, she took an hour just to explain to her father about how important this school trip for her—and how bad she wanted to go—so that he would sign on the letter. And after she got it from her father, Rukia did her best to plead her mother (it took three tiring hours). She even used her acting skills—her fake tears—to make her mother let her go on the trip.

And finally, today, Rukia could taste the sweetness from her efforts; here she stood, with her friends, waiting for their departure. The first school trip of Kuchiki Rukia! She really couldn't stop smiling due to the excitement she felt.

"I think that's all, kids!" Yahiko-sensei finally exclaimed, indicating that his announcement is over. "Now, get into the buses!" he said, pointing the buses waiting in front of the school gate that would drive them to the station.

Waiting for no second order, the students quickly picked up their bags and charged on the buses. It wasn't very long before all the students and the teachers who would accompany them on the trip got in, and so they departed to the station.

--###--

Two hours later, the students of Karakura High School finally arrived at Kyoto Station. And from there on, the students would use six rented buses waiting for them in front of the station to travel around Kyoto, the seventh largest city in Japan that preserved its historical and ancient beauty.

As soon as they got out from the station, the students quickly got into the buses and occupied the seat they liked. As for Rukia, being the student who went in a trip like this for the first time in her life, it was rather difficult to get a seat. She had no experience in the seat scramble; every time she went to occupy one, someone else always popped out of seemingly nowhere, passed her by and took the seat first. Great, now, it was getting on her nerves….

'Couldn't they just take the other seats?!' Rukia cursed in her mind

Groaning mentally, Rukia dragged herself further into the bus, trying to find any empty seat available. And she found out that the only one left was on the back row—the furthest row from the bus' door, between Renji's and the certain ice-cube dude's seat… Why, for heaven's sake, WHY the only place left had to be beside him…?

Rukia sighed. Deciding that it would be better to sit there than to stand all the way there, Rukia finally took her heavy bags off her shoulder and put it with the other bags on the shelf over the seats. Then, she placed herself on the empty space between Renji, who was arguing about random stuff with the carrot-top sat next to him, and Ulquiorra, who was busying himself already with a book in his hand, completely ignoring his surroundings.

Rukia looked at the green-eyed boy's bored expression and raised her brow. Honestly, Rukia found it was quite intriguing. He didn't look like the type who would enjoy a trip like this, nor did he seem to have any interest in the trip—even the book on his hand seemed to be more interesting for him. But if he really didn't like it, then why did sign up?

"What are you staring at?" Ulquiorra suddenly asked her, not taking his emerald-green eyes off the book.

"Huh?" Rukia was surprised. Did he just ask her? So, he wasn't fully ignoring his surroundings, eh? He realized that someone was staring at him after all.

"Must I repeat myself?"

Rukia twitched. Heck… why did he have the tendency to be cold and rude? Maybe, Izuru's advice was right, she'd better stay away from this boy since he was definitely not a nice person; he was a jerk!

"Don't get me wrong, I was staring to nothing in particular," she answered harshly as she leaned her head on the seat's back, throwing her gaze away from the pale figure beside her. Like hell Rukia was going to admit that she was indeed staring at him a moment ago.

"Hn."

Upon hearing this, Rukia twitched again. What was that sarcastic 'Hn' supposed to mean?! She turned her head and glared at Ulquiorra with rage in her big, purple eyes.

"If that glare is supposed to intimidate me, I tell you, Kuchiki Rukia, it doesn't seem to work," Ulquiorra said plainly as he cast a sideway look to the petite Kuchiki.

"WHAT?!" Rukia's glare grew more intense as she shouted.

"And in case you want to know, right now, some students are giving you the similar glare you're giving to me."

Rukia blinked her eyes. Huh? Some students were glaring to her? Then, when she roamed her eyes around the bus to confirm the truth of Ulquiorra's words, she found that more than half of the female students were indeed glaring at her with how-dare-you-shouted-like-that-to-Ulquiorra glare. The petite Kuchiki was dumbfounded. What was wrong with them?!

Tsk, tsk… Little Rukia never knew that 70% female students in her class were members of the 'Ulquiorra Fan Club' (she didn't even know such a club existed). But even if she knew, she surely wouldn't care. Right now, there was only one thing she cared: if look could kill, she surely would be dead at this very moment. Fan girls were indeed dangerous…

"Okay kids! Has everyone got a seat?" suddenly, Ochi-sensei's voice broke out, saving Rukia from further glare given by Ulquiorra's fan girls.

"Yes, Ma'am!" most of the students answered vigorously in unison.

Now, all attentions were focused on Ochi-sensei—even Ulquiorra's fan girls seemed to forget about their rage at Rukia for the moment. They focused on what was Ochi-sensei going to say.

Noticing that the students had fully paid their attentions to her now, Ochi-sensei clasped her hands happily. "Good. Now, I'll introduce our class' tour guide, Yamada-san," said Ochi-sensei, nodding to a petite, black-haired man in white shirt who was standing beside her.

The petite man, who looked like he could faint at any minute due to his nervousness, nodded back to Ochi-sensei. "Hello…. Erm… I'm Yamada Hanatarou, I'll be your guide form here on," he said to the students with a sheepish smile.

And after the short introduction of their nervous tour guide, the buses started moving. According to Yamada-san and the written schedule given by Ochi-sensei, first, they would visit Honganji Temples that consisted of Nishi Honganji and Higashi Honganji, two large temples in the center of Kyoto.

The buses moved on the way to temples steadily, while the students were getting more and more excited, eager to see the famous temples and other historical places as well. Little did they know that out there, a black car was tailing them.

Inside the suspicious black car, sat four passengers: four men in black suits. One of the passengers, the man who sat next to the driver, took his mobile phone off his pocket and dialed a number.

"It's me," he spoke to the phone once he heard the soft 'click' on the other end of the line, indicating that someone had picked the phone, "Yes, we've found her—we're following her right now. Don't worry; we won't fail. Soon, Kuchiki Rukia will be in our hands."

--TO BE CONTINUED--

* * *

_**A/N: **__Yay! Chapter four! Soon, Rukia would find out that her first school trip would be far from normal. *evil grin*_

_Again, thank you so much for all those reviews, favorites, and alerts! They're my oases amidst the dessert called laziness. And special thanks goes to Cat Alex; sorry for all the mess I made! __

**Disclaimer:** BLEACH is not (and will never be) mine.

**Review please~~ n_n**


	5. ‘Accidentally’ Shoot Her? No Way!

**Hime Monogatari**

_Chapter 5: 'Accidentally' Shoot Her? No Way!_

"Woooow…!" Orihime exclaimed in amazement at the spectacular view seen from the verandah of the Kiyomizudera's Main Hall. "The scenery was really beautiful!"

"Yeah," Rukia answered in awe as she stared at the vivid-colored autumn scenery extending before her eyes.

It was the second day of their school trip and they were visiting Kiyomizudera, the 16th of the Western Japan 33 Kan'non pilgrimage sites and the most popular place in Kyoto. The best attraction of the temple is the main hall that had a huge verandah—where the students of Karakura High School were standing right now—with 139 support beams underneath it. The view from the verandah, like Orihime had mentioned, was really beautiful.

The students were enjoying the view as they listened to the guide's explanations about the temple's history and other information related to the famous temple.

But suddenly, Rukia felt a shiver run down her spine and the back of her neck prickled; she felt like there was someone stared intently with a rather murderous intent towards her. Quickly, she turned around and her eyes roamed around the verandah, trying to find where the murderous look she just felt came from. And the petite girl found that no one was staring at her.

How strange… Actually, it wasn't the first time she had felt this kind of gaze on her. She had felt like there was someone tailing and keeping an eye on her since her first day in Kyoto, since she was at Honganji Temples. But Rukia always failed to find who the stalker was since every time she tried to find the owner of the murderous gaze she always found that no one was staring at her. And frankly, it started to creep her out. Was there someone who had bad intentions towards her? What if there was someone who wanted to… kill her?

"Kuchiki-san?" someone tapped Rukia's shoulder, snapping the said girl from her fearsome thoughts.

Turning around, Rukia found Orihime staring at her with a worried expression. "H-huh? What is it, Inoue-san?" asked the raven-haired girl.

"You were spacing out, Kuchiki-san," the orange-haired girl said with slight apprehension in her voice. "Is there something wrong?"

Trying to cover her anxiousness, Rukia used her acting skills and successfully smiled an honest-looking smile to Orihime. "Oh, nothing really."

For a moment, Orihime kept staring at Rukia, as if she wasn't really sure of her answer. And when finally Orihime smiled back to Rukia as an acceptance of the answer, Ochi-sensei and Yamada-san had gathered their classmates.

"Okay, kids, now you'll have some free time. But make sure to come back to the bus before 3:00 pm! Or else, we'll leave you to the next site!" Ochi-sensei said with a wide smile.

--###--

"Jishu Jinja?" Tatsuki asked the orange-haired girl, raising her brow.

"Un!" Orihime nodded excitedly as an answer. "We went around the temple and tasted the water in Otowa Fall, so, now is the time for Jishu Jinja! Besides, we still have plenty of time."

Jishu Jinja was a small shrine tucked away behind Kiyomizudera Temple that dedicated to Okuninushi no Mikoto, the god of love and match making. And Tatsuki, being the one who had known Orihime for a long time, knew that the orange-haired girl really wanted to visit the said shrine—she knew Orihime liked those kind of things; amulets sold in the shrines that promised good luck for your love life, fortune telling, strange spells to make your confession successful (which later proved to be a bunch of fake, useless spells), etcetera.

"Well, it's okay with me," Tatsuki said, scratching the back of her head, "What about you, Rukia?" she asked the petite Kuchiki who went with them since they left the Main Hall.

Rukia smiled to the two girls, "Sounds good to me."

"Yosh!" Orihime exclaimed happily, "It's settled then! Let's go to Jishu Jinja!"

With that, Orihime quickly grabbed Tatsuki and Rukia's arm, dragging the two girls to Jishu Jinja, despite Tatsuki's protest.

Once they arrived at the shrine, the girls found a pair of rocks—known as _koiuranai no ishi_ (Love Rocks), set in the ground in front of the shrine about sixty feet apart from each other. And when Orihime saw it, she squealed in joy and quickened her pace, dragging along the two raven-haired girls with her.

"So, these are the _koiuranai no ishi_!" said Orihime as she took the picture of the stones using her mobile phone.

Rukia, feeling a bit confused as to why Orihime was so excited about the two stones, looked at Tatsuki and asked, "_Koiuranai no ishi_?"

Tatsuki smiled at the petite Kuchiki. "You don't know, eh? People said that if we can successfully walk from one rock to the other with our eyes closed, we supposedly will find true love. And if we're helped by someone to walk between the stones, that means we will need a go between for our future love," Tatsuki explained.

"That's just a myth, right?" Rukia asked again with a doubtful look.

The tomboyish girl just shrugged her shoulder. "Well, I personally think so. But our Orihime here believes this myth and she wants to try if she can walk between the so-called love rocks, hoping that her true love will be none other than Kurosaki Ichigo," she said with a teasing grin, "Right, Orihime?"

Upon hearing her best friend's teasing, Orihime went red. "I-It has nothing to do with Kurosaki-kun!" she stuttered.

"Ohhh… I see now," Rukia said, smiling teasingly to the orange-haired girl—who grew even redder.

"Erm…. W-well, since we're here now, why don't you try it, Kuchiki-san?" Orihime asked the purple-eyed girl nervously.

"Me?"

"Yes, you. After all, it's your first school trip, isn't it? So I think you deserve to try it first!" Orihime said, pushing Rukia towards one of the rocks.

As she was being pushed to the nearer rock, Rukia glanced to Tatsuki, who was giving her a look that said, 'Oh, Orihime is just trying to change the subject.' The petite girl chuckled lightly.

"Fine, fine, I'll try it," she said, so that Orihime would stop pushing her.

And so Rukia closed her eyes; she began walking towards the other rock stood sixty feet in front of her. Even though Rukia didn't really believe such a myth, she somehow felt excited. What if she really could successfully make it to the other rock and found a true love afterwards? And what if she failed? Would she be a single for her entire life? But it was just a myth, after all, and Rukia decided there was no need to put too much faith on such a trivial thing.

Smiling due to the excitement she felt, Rukia kept walking at a steady pace, making sure that she didn't go out of the supposed track. And somehow, she was sure that she almost made it. Just a few steps more and…

"Oh!"

Rukia felt her foot trip on a small stone stuck in a narrow space between two paving blocks on her way. Snapping her eyes open, Rukia found that the gap between her face and her destination—the rock—was subsiding. She could hear the surprised and fearful gasps from Orihime and Tatsuki. Panicked, Rukia just shut her eyes again—tighter, this time—and prepared her body to receive the pain when her head hit the hard surface of the rock.

'Oh boy… I'll be sent to a hospital in my first school trip? That's not funny,' Rukia thought.

One second, two seconds, three seconds…

Huh? Wait, this was weird… Why hadn't she hit it yet?

Curiously, Rukia cracked her purple eyes open to meet the piercing green-eyed stare of none other than Ulquiorra. Rukia blinked her eyes for a couple times before she fully realized that Ulquiorra was holding her with his right arm, stopping her from hitting the rock. She could feel his arm around her waist, supporting her weight, and Rukia's cheeks burned reluctantly in embarrassment. The petite girl hated to admit it, but he was quite strong if he could hold her using only a single arm.

"You'd better be careful, Kuchiki Rukia," he addressed the petite girl by her full name as usual, putting Rukia back on her feet. "Because the danger can be anywhere, waiting for the right time to swallow you."

With that, Ulquiorra turned on his heel and walked away, leaving the stunned Rukia behind him; her mind was too busy trying to absorb what the true meaning behind his words were.

Ulquiorra walked passed Orihime and Tatsuki who were still shocked, heading to a teal-haired guy—whom Rukia recognized as Grimmjow, one of Ulquiorra's 'friends' she met that day at the back of the gym—stood a couple feet away, waiting for him. Once Ulquiorra reached at him, Grimmjow joined the green-eyed boy and left the shrine.

After she managed to recover from her shock, Orihime quickly approached the petite, raven-haired girl, asking her warily, "Y-you alright, Kuchiki-san?"

Still stunned by the green-eyed boy's words, Rukia just nodded, murmuring a soft, "Yeah…"

"Good thing that Ulquiorra caught you before your head landed on the rock, though I wonder what was he doing here… He couldn't be looking for some amulets from this shrine, right?" Tatsuki said as she approached Orihime and Rukia with a sigh of relieve.

But the petite Kuchiki just ignored her friend's comment. Right now, her mind was too busy thinking on what Ulquiorra had said…

"_The danger can be anywhere, waiting for the right time to swallow you."_

And Rukia shivered slightly as she remembered the murderous look she often felt recently. Did it have something to do with Ulquiorra…?

--###--

Ochi-sensei was walking toward the parking lot alone. Soon, it would be 3 pm and the students would get back to the bus, and she decided she would head beck there now, waiting for them.

When she arrived at the parking lot, she found no teachers were there. Well, perhaps the other teachers were still on their way here and would come in a minute or two, she thought.

But apparently, Ochi-sensei wasn't the first person arrived there because when she entered the bus for 1-A's students, she found an unconscious Yamada-san laid on the bus' floor with tight ropes tied to his hands and feet, and a white handkerchief gagging him, preventing him from make any noise if he woke up.

Behind her spectacles, Ochi-sensei's eyes widened. "Yamada-san!!" She quickly approached the unconscious figure of the said tour guide, "Yamada-san! You alright?! Yamada-san, answer me!!"

"Don't worry, Sensei, he's okay," spoke a cold, deep male voice from behind her.

Turning her head around in shock, Ochi-sensei found a lanky, black-haired man stood behind her with a cold smirk on his lips.

"Who are-?"

Ochi-sensei's word was cut off by a white handkerchief pressed over her mouth and nose. Soon, the strong smell of chloroform invaded her nose. It just took few seconds before she found everything was faded into pitch black and her body grew heavy. She blacked out.

Nimbly, the thin man caught her body and placed her on the front seat. The man made sure that Ochi-sensei looked as if she was fast asleep on the seat. And while he was busy positioning the unconscious teacher, another man entered the bus with a grin on his face, showing his square, shark-like teeth. The second man was dressed in white, buttoned shirt looked exactly like what Yamada Hanatarou was wearing: the uniform for the tour guides.

"Heh. What should we do with this tour guide then, Shawlong?" the grinning man asked, placing his foot on Yamada-san.

The lanky man, whose name was Shawlong Qufang, straightened his body and glanced over his shoulder to the other man.

"Just hide him somewhere unnoticed, D-Roy," Shawlong answered.

Still grinning, D-Roy Linker bent down and loomed over the unconscious Yamada Hanatarou. "Can't I kill him instead?"

--###--

"Huuuh… This is weird…" Keigo said as he eyed Ochi-sensei's figure sat on the seat inside the bus, "Why is she sleeping? Shouldn't she guard and guide us or something like that?"

Ichigo, who was standing behind him, rolled his eyes. "Let her sleep, Keigo. Maybe she's tired. And we don't need any guard; we aren't 5 year-olds. Besides, we already have Yamada-san as our guide," the carrot-top said.

"Oh, speaking of Yamada-san, where is he? We've all been here but we haven't seen him…" Renji said, scratching the back of his neck as he wandered his gaze around the bus and the parking lot.

Ichigo blinked, and then he realized Renji was right, there was no sight of their nervous tour guide. "I wonder where he could b-"

"Yo, kids!" someone suddenly entered the bus and greeted the students, cutting off Ichigo's words.

Automatically, all heads snapped to the stranger who just entered the bus. There were questioning and confused looks written on their faces as they saw a man with shark-like teeth dressed in the tour guide uniform with a name tag on it. D-Roy Linker was the name written on the tag. Was he a tour guide too? But what was he doing here? After all, Yamada-san was the one who in charge on their class, right?

Seeing the looks on the students face, D-Roy's grin grew wider. "Well, looks like your teacher is fast asleep that she can't introduce me,"—D-Roy eyed Ochi-sensei—"so I'll just introduce myself to you. My name's D-Roy Linker," he said. "I was sent here by our tour agency to replace Yamada-san guiding you."

"Replacement? Why is that?" Ichigo asked suspiciously.

"Well, he called the agency and said he needed to go to the hospital as soon as possible because he got a call that his mother just got into an accident. And so he asked our agency to send another guide to replace him, that's why," D-Roy explained to them.

Truth to be told, the students were a bit confused at the sudden replacement for their guide, but they said nothing, they just 'oooh-ed' or shrugged.

"Okay, kids, now, take your seats, we're heading to the next site!" D-Roy exclaimed, and the students just obeyed him, getting back to their seats. "Let's go then, Mr. Driver!" he said, turning his head to the driver and grinned.

There, on the driver seat, sat none other than Shawlong, who nodded solemnly to D-Roy. And he drove the bus out of the parking lot, following the other buses rented for Karakura High School's students.

At first, nothing strange happened. Their bus just drove steadily behind the other buses, heading to the next site. But after a while, the bus' speed suddenly increased, and turned sharply to the left on an intersection in the middle of the city, leaving the other buses in their dust.

"HEY! What was that for?! Why the hell did you drive the bus the wrong way?! Shouldn't we go straight back there at the intersection?!" Keigo asked; eyes scanning a hand map of Kyoto he brought from home.

"Huh? Really?" Renji asked in surprise. "So, what's this supposed to mean?!" He got up from his seat and approached D-Roy.

"Just shut your trap, will you?" D-Roy said casually, suddenly taking a gun out from under his shirt and aimed it at Renji.

Gasps filled the bus as soon as the students realized what kind of situation they were trapped in: bus hijacking! This was very bad; any action or word that pissed off the hijacker and they'd find a bullet stuck in their head.

"Now, kids, just shut up and listen," D-Roy said, his eyes roaming over the surprised and frightened faces of the students with gun still held firmly in his hand, "I and my partner there"—he jerked his head at Shawlong—"don't have any intention to kill you useless brats unless you get in our way, so just cooperate with us, okay? Do whatever we said and you can keep your beloved lives."

"So, what do you want?" Ichigo hissed at him, anger and anxiety held in his voice. He was mentally scolding himself; why didn't he realize this D-Roy-guy's lie earlier? Replacement my ass…

D-Roy grinned widely. "We're here for one of your classmates, Brat," he said, approaching Ichigo's seat.

Another collective gasp filled the bus, and D-Roy found the increased fear of the students quite amusing. His grin grew wider and he walked over to Ichigo.

"And fortunately, the one we're here for is sitting right here," he said to the carrot-top as he placed his gun against Rukia's head.

Rukia's purple eyes widened in shock and fear at D-Roy's words and the cold sensation she felt as the gun brushed against her forehead. "M-me?!" Rukia stuttered.

"Yes, Miss Kuchiki Rukia, you," D-Roy said, moving his gaze to the raven-haired girl, "we need you to come with us, and you'd better be a good girl, or else, I may 'accidentally' shoot you."

Cold sweats started to run down her skin, and Rukia could see the horror plastered on her classmates' faces, as well as thickened tension in the air. She felt her body tremble, and her knees went weak. She just stared wide-eyed at D-Roy, feeling like a trapped mouse. What to do now? What to do?!

"Foolish," spoke a coolly voice from beside her.

Surprised, Rukia's head turned a fraction to see Ulquiorra leaning back calmly on his seat with his eyes closed, like nothing was happening right then.

"What did you say, Brat?!" D-Roy asked the boy harshly.

Ulquiorra opened his eyes slowly and darted his cold gaze to D-Roy. "I said, foolish," he said very calmly, causing D-Roy to get even more pissed. "If you really want her, surely you won't harm her, which means you can't use her life as an exchange. You wouldn't dare 'accidentally' shoot her," he explained matter-of-factly.

D-Roy frowned and twitched in anger. He hated to admit it, but yes, this brat was right, he couldn't harm Kuchiki Rukia—not yet, at least. His boss would be furious at him if he dared to kill her now.

But a moment latter, D-Roy's grin came back; he moved his gun from Rukia's forehead to Ulquiorra's temple. "Yeah, I you're right, Brat. So, what if I use YOUR life as an exchange instead?"

Ulquiorra just stared at him with his green eyes, there was still no emotion written on his face. "You'll regret it," he stated simply.

--TO BE CONTINUED--

_**

* * *

A/N:**__ hello there! Just so you know that I'm NOT dead yet (just too busy with my school). Anyways, here's the fifth chapter. And I think it'll take a long, long time until I can finish the sixth chapter...._

_As usual, thanks goes for Cat-san and all the reviewers! :)_

_**Disclaimer:**__ BLEACH belongs to Kubo Tite!_


	6. On the Run!

_**Disclaimer**: BLEACH belongs to Kubo Tite._

* * *

**Hime Monogatari**

_Chapter 6: On the Run!_

Rukia yawned as she closed the hotel room's door behind her. She approached her bed lazily and plopped herself on it. Today was a tiring day, indeed.

As she stared at the white ceiling above her, she began musing over so many things that had happened today. And Rukia found that the most irritating one was the interrogation by the police; it took almost four hours, for the love of Chappy! Frankly, Rukia was still pissed about it. Oh, how she wanted to smack the police's head against the wall back then, just so he would stop questioning her. 'Why do those men want to kidnap you?'; 'Do you have any idea who they are?'; 'Do you think you have enemies out there who want to kill you?' Those were what the police had asked her. Really, how the heck could she answer them?! Wasn't it the police's job to investigate it?!

And the looks she got from her classmates weren't helping either; they kept casting strange looks to her. They even gossiped about her father being a Yakuza and that the men who wanted to kidnap her were from another gang lead by her father's enemy. Oh, God, were they insane? Her father, Kuchiki Byakuya, was a good, noble man! No crime record! How could he be a yakuza?!

Oh, and there was other gossip… about her and Ulquiorra…

Groaning, Rukia shut her eyes tightly. That Walking Ice Cube Dude… Why, of all boys she knew, it had to be him who was gossiped being her BOYFRIEND?! Just because he had saved her today didn't mean he was her boyfriend!

Wait… come to think of it, Rukia hadn't thanked him for saving her beloved life, had she? But then again, she didn't really sure whether she should thank him or not. She still remembered Izuru's words about that green-eyed boy. It made her wonder: what if Ulquiorra was one of those bad guys' comrades who was disguised as her classmate and was trying to gain her trust so that he would get a perfect chance to kidnap her—or worse, kill her?

"Ulquiorra Schiffer…" the raven-haired girl mumbled. "Just who the heck are you? A friend? Or an enemy?"

And Rukia's mind began to replay the bus hijacking that just happened today…

--###--

"Yeah, you're right, Brat. So, what if I use YOUR life as an exchange instead?" D-Roy grinned as he pressed his gun against Ulquiorra's temple.

Still unbelievably calm, Ulquiorra just stared blankly at D-Roy. "You'll regret it," he said.

"Huh?" D-Roy raised an eyebrow.

But before the fake tour guide could give another response, Ulquiorra's left hand had grabbed his wrist, shoving the gun away from his temple. And in a blink of eye, Ulquiorra had got up from his seat, spun his body and landed a good strike right on D-Roy's nose using his right elbow.

Cursing in pain, D-Roy stumbled backward at the impact and his grip on the gun loosened.

Ulquiorra used this opportunity to snatch the gun from D-Roy's hand. Then, wasting no time to give his enemy a chance to fight back, Ulquiorra stepped forward and jabbed D-Roy's stomach before hitting him on the back of his neck, sending the fake tour guide unconscious on the floor.

At the sudden fight in front of them, the students—including Rukia—gaped, half surprised and half confused as to what had just happened. Ulquiorra Schiffer, the emo, antisocial guy, beat the insane-looking hijacker just in a few seconds?! Seriously?!

Before their seemingly frozen minds could take in what had just happened, another wave of surprise had came over them; the brake squealed, and their bus abruptly—and ungracefully—stopped, sending all the passengers forward, hitting anything that stood in front of them—or, in Rukia's case, landed flatly on the bus' floor.

Apparently the other hijacker, the one who took the position as the driver, Shawlong, had prepared for a situation like this; when his partner got beaten, then he would handle the mission by himself. Shawlong was known among his comrades for his reputation as the one who always succeeded in every single mission he had. Like hell he would let this one failed just because a single brat beat out his partner.

Taking the gun from behind his shirt, Shawlong quickly got up from the driver's seat in an attempt to aim his gun at whichever brat had caused this mess in his mission and shoot him as a warning for the others. But as soon as he got up from his seat, Shawlong froze. His eyes widened upon seeing the green-eyed brat who had knocked D-Roy out of consciousness stood in front of him, holding the gun he snatched from D-Roy firmly and pointing it right in front of Shawlong's left eye.

The hell? This damn boy sure was fast.

"Freeze," Ulquiorra said with bored tone, as if dealing with bus hijackers like this was just some daily routine. "Now, drop your gun," he ordered the Chinese man in front of him as he jerked his head toward Shawlong's gun, "or else, I might accidentally shot you," he added, copying D-Roy's words.

"You won't dare to do so," Shawlong said coolly, trying to intimidating his opponent using his cold glare and calmness.

"Really?" Ulquiorra asked—still in bored tone. "Try me," he said, narrowing his emerald-like eyes and cocked the gun in his hand.

Fuck.

Shawlong realized that this boy wasn't just spouting an empty threat; this boy had been used to this kind of situation—he had been used to guns and vice versa, and he definitely wouldn't hesitate to shoot his head if the situation forced him to do so. Shawlong could see it in the boy's green eyes; he wasn't just an ordinary high school student. So, that only meant that this boy was…

"Who the hell are you?" Shawlong hissed to Ulquiorra as he dropped his gun; he asked it to make sure that his assumption was right.

For a moment, Ulquiorra just stayed silent, boring his icy glare to the lanky man in front of him, as if he was contemplating whether to answer the question or not. "You already know who I really am, I suppose. So, there's no point in questioning it," Ulquiorra finally said.

Shawlong's eyes narrowed. So, it was true; that man had made a move, he already sensed the danger was coming after him and his family. That was why this green-eyed boy was here. Oh, his boss wouldn't be happy if he knew it.

"Kirisaki-san," still holding the gun firmly on place, Ulquiorra called a nerd-looking boy who had freckles over his small nose stood not so far from him.

The said boy jumped in surprise. Well, couldn't be helped though, just like the other students in the bus, Kirisaki Atsushi, the class' president, was still shocked. Bus hijacking wasn't something they would experience everyday, after all.

"Y-yes?" Kirisaki asked.

"Would you please call the other teachers and inform them our current location? And please call the police as well," Ulquiorra calmly said or, more precisely, ordered.

"Oh! H-hai!" Kirisaki stuttered. He quickly pulled his mobile from his pocket and dialed one of teachers' numbers.

"Now, Kurosaki-san, Abarai-san, rather than to stand there and do nothing, would you help me instead? Please hold that unconscious 'trash' over there." Ulquiorra asked the two boys who were still dumbfounded at their emo classmate's stunt.

Regaining his composure, Ichigo cleared his throat and nodded. "Sure," he said, approaching the unconscious figure of none other than D-Roy Linker. Frankly, he didn't like the way Ulquiorra ordered him like that, but he still did the favor, though. "Help me, will 'ya, Renji?"

"Huh? Oh, right. Sure," and the red head, though he was still confused and a bit shocked, quickly helped his friend to take care of the fake tour guide.

And while the others—besides Ulquiorra, Ichigo, Renji, and Kirisaki—were busy commenting and murmuring at what life-threatening event that just happened to them, Rukia merely sat on the bus' floor and stared wide-eyed at Ulquiorra's back.

Beating two bus hijackers in such a short time? Ulquiorra was definitely not an ordinary student, she found out. Though Rukia wasn't sure whether that was a good or a bad thing… And her petite figure shuddered unpleasantly as she remembered Izuru's words,

"_I think he's a bit… suspicious. I mean he looks like… let's say, not a nice guy."_

**NOT **a nice guy.

--###--

Thus, that was why Rukia had been interrogated for almost four hours today by the police officers that arrived immediately after Kirisaki called them; that was why her father was gossiped as a yakuza; and that was why she was gossiped with Ulquiorra. Rukia remembered clearly when her classmates said that she must meant something more than just a mere classmate for Ulquiorra since he had bravely save her from that D-Roy's gun back then.

Rukia' cheeks heated up. Ulquiorra… had feelings for her… No way!! That sounded as strange as 'your father is a girl' in Rukia's ears. That boy was as cold as an iceberg! How come he held feelings for her?! Wait! And what the heck was she blushing for?!

Groaning once more, Rukia buried her face in her palms. Right now, what she wanted the most was sleep. She really wanted to sleep and get up tomorrow morning with full-blown amnesia.

--###--

_CRACK_.

'Huh?'

_CRACK._

_ZRRRRT…._

'What's that?' Rukia thought. She snapped her still-sleepy eyes open. And the first sight she caught was the glowing numbers of the digital clock on the nightstand next to her bed. It was 1.45 a.m. What could make that noise at this ungodly hour?

Grudgingly, she woke up to a sitting position and shifted her gaze to the door leading to the balcony, which was near her bed and apparently was where the noise came from. And then, as Rukia caught the sight of the said glassy door—wide open now—and felt the cold night wind blowing through her room, her eyes widened. Seemed that the cold wind had awakened her sleepy brain, and she proceeded to realize that a lean figure of a man dressed in white jacket and black trousers was standing beside her bed. Oh, Rukia surely would have been screaming on the top of her lungs when if only a firm palm hadn't clamped her mouth shut.

"Shhhh!" Ulquiorra hissed to her. "Be quiet!" he said with barely audible voice and moved his hand off her mouth.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HE-"

Rukia's words were cut off as Ulquiorra placed his hand over her mouth again, silencing her.

"Didn't I say quiet?" the green-eyed boy whispered to her, narrowing his emerald eyes dangerously. Then, he glanced at the balcony where he had came through and at the door across the bed with cautious look.

Pushing his hand away, Rukia glared at Ulquiorra. "So, what are you doing here?!" she hissed—well, at least this time, she wasn't screaming. "How did you manage to get into my room through that door?! I'm sure I had that one locked! And what do you want?!"

Heh… surely, she was suspicious to Ulquiorra, who was standing in front of her with both hands in his pants' pocket. The green-eyed boy could see the mixture of anger, suspicion, caution and anxiety in her large, purple eyes. Well, then again, who wouldn't be suspicious of someone who had just broke into their room in the middle of the night and intruded your sleep?

Sighing, Ulquiorra stared straight into her purple eyes. "Just be quiet, and listen well," he began, "It doesn't really matter how I could get into your room. What matters now is that I have no bad intentions toward you, Kuchiki Rukia, because I'm here to protect you."

"Say what?" Rukia's eyes widened.

"Should I repeat myself?" Ulquiorra quirked one of his brows. "And in order to save your life, you need to come with me."

Rukia blinked. Did he just say that he was here to protect her life? Did he just ask her to come with him? Was this boy insane or stupid? Did he think that, after some men had tried to kidnap her today, Rukia would stupidly and easily believe him? Did he really think that she would come with him?

So many questions ran through Rukia's mind all at once that Rukia herself wondered how she could think of them in a split second.

As if Ulquiorra could read her mind, he spoke. "I understand that it's hard to believe me and there are so many questions you want to ask, but for the time being, would you just listen to m-"

CRACK.

Ulquiorra abruptly went silent, so did Rukia. They whipped their head in the direction of the noise: the door. What now?

They stayed silent like that for a moment, listening intently to the soft cracking from the door. It sounded like someone was trying to break into Rukia's room. After a moment of deathly silence that made Rukia's heart bump wildly in fear and cold sweat began to run down her temple, it was Ulquiorra who broke the unnerving silence.

"We're running out of time here. They are coming after you, Kuchiki Rukia," Ulquiorra whispered. "Get your things so we can leave. NOW."

"But—I—that…" Rukia stuttered; she was confused as to what she should do now. Should she believe Ulquiorra and come with him? Or should she stay in her room and face whatever that would happen to her next?

As his patience got thinner, Ulquiorra just approached a white bag—Rukia's bag—resting on an armchair near the nightstand. He took it and quickly turned back to Rukia.

"Just come," Ulquiorra said as he grabbed Rukia's left arm, forcing her to get off the bed and stand on her feet, much to Rukia's dismay.

"Hey!!" the petite Kuchiki hissed angrily.

Ignoring her annoyance, Ulquiorra grabbed Rukia's slender waist and lifted her petite figure before swinging her over his shoulder, as if she was a sack of potatoes. And, without wasting any time, Ulquiorra walked out onto the balcony.

"Put. Me. Down. NOW!" Rukia demanded, punching and kicking like a madman in order to make the boy release her.

"Only if you agree to come with me," the green-eyed boy said calmly as he approached the fire escape at the balcony.

But, before Rukia could say anything to Ulquiorra, she heard two whistles of bullets coming from the room's door, and there was smoke rising from the doorknob—or the place where the doorknob used to be, since right now, it was just a hole (the poor knob and the key chain had been shattered into some burning pieces of metal on the floor). Oh dear, someone lacked patience and had taken the quickest way to break into her room by shooting the door.

"I think I'll just come with you, Ulquiorra," said Rukia.

"Good."

--###--

Outside the room, a huge man dressed in all black was holding his revolver with a smug grin on his face. The man, Edrad Liones, turned his head and grinned at his partner.

"See? It's a way quicker than your stupid, troublesome method," Edrad said.

The partner, a man with long, blond hair and rather effeminate looking who also dressed in all black clothes, sighed in slight annoyance and rolled his eyes. "For God's sake, you've just woken up our prey and warned the guards, Brother. We'd better make it quickly before the guards catch us," Ilfort Granz, for that was the blond man's name, said.

"Stop calling me Brother!"

"Whatever," Ilfort said again as he pushed the door open and stepped in.

As soon as Ilfort took a look at the empty room, his eyes widened. Where the hell was the girl they were supposed to take? Then he caught the site of the wide-opened door leading to the balcony and nimbly approached it.

And it hit him: that Kuchiki Rukia had run away through the fire escape. Damn that little brat. Damn stupid Edrad and his stupid method of breaking into someone's room.

Quickly, Ilfort stormed out of the room, taking out his gun. "Come on, Brother!" he yelled to Edrad.

"Shit!" Edrad muttered as he realized what had happened to their prey. And the huge man quickly followed his blonde partner, thinking to punch that Kuchiki girl once he catch her and to kick that damn Ilfort for still calling him 'Brother'—they were not siblings!

--###--

Rukia shivered when the cold night wind touched her petite figure—which was covered only by her chappy-patterned pajamas. Her hands ached, and her legs were tired. She had lost count of how many rungs she had gone through. Really, why didn't they just take the lift? Oh, wait, they couldn't—the kidnaper was in front of her room anyway, that's why. But, then again, why had the school had to chose the tenth floor for the students to stay? Couldn't they choose the first—or the second—floor instead so that it would be much easier for her to get away from whoever was chasing her?

"Stupid school, stupid way of escaping, stupid kidnaper… stupid Ulquiorra," Rukia muttered under her breath between her ragged breaths.

But apparently, besides his sharp skills at martial arts, Ulquiorra also had sharp ears. "What?" he asked the raven-haired girl who was trying to climb down the fire escape as fast as she could to catch up with him.

"Nothing," Rukia said plainly, not in the mood for any argument that might come if she voiced her protest.

"Then you'd better get faster."

'You'd better go to hell,' she thought.

When the two teens finally reached the ground, Ulquiorra quickly led the petite girl across the parking lot in front of the tall building of the hotel. He was leading Rukia towards the hotel's gate, saying that his friend was waiting not so far from the hotel with a motorcycle for them.

And even though Rukia didn't really like the idea of going to only-God-knows-where with a motorcycle in the middle of the night only in her pajamas, she was grateful enough that, at least, she could ran away from her goddamn chaser.

But it seemed that heaven wasn't on her side. Because, when she and Ulquiorra were about to pass the gate, she heard a whistle of a bullet and saw it hit the gate, which was only five centimeters away from her.

Shocked, Rukia's purple eyes widened. "What the-"

The petite Kuchiki couldn't finish her words since Ulquiorra had grabbed her wrist, snapping one simple word yet so hard to do with Rukia's aching legs, "Run as fast as you can."

And just like that, Ulquiorra pushed her to run like there was no tomorrow—well, there wouldn't be any 'tomorrow' for Rukia if she got hit by those bullets hot on their heels, indeed. Ulquiorra had led her out of the hotel area, and now, they were running down an empty, dim alley across the hotel. Exactly where they were heading, Rukia didn't know and didn't really care right then.

As she ran for her dear life with her hand still attached to Ulquiorra's, Rukia managed to glance over her shoulder and saw their pursuers: a huge, scary-looking man and a lanky, blond… erm… man. (Rukia wasn't really sure if the blond one was a man as well, since his hair was long and it was way too difficult to stay focused in her current circumstance)

'Am I really gonna die at fifteen? And not to mention by some random guys who want to kidnap me for God-knows-what with the Ice Cube Dude drags me like a rag doll? Pity…'

--TO BE CONTINUED--

* * *

_**A/N:** Hello there! Took me long enough to update. Sorry, exams just got in the way. Anyways, I want to thank all the readers and the reviewers who had gave a read on Hime Monogatari, and special thanks goes to Cat Alex who beta-ed this chap! :D_

_Oh, in case you wanna know, Hime Monogatari means 'Princess' Tale'._

_Review and constructive criticism would make my day! ;)_


	7. Murderer'

_**Disclaimer:** BLEACH belongs to Kubo Tite, not me. ...Though I won't mind to own Ulquiorra and Toushirou... *get kicked by Kubo-sensei*_

**

* * *

Hime Monogatari**

_Chapter 7: 'Murderer'_

* * *

Run, run, run… Turn right, turn left. Run, run, run… Turn left. Run, run… Turn right, the right again. Run, run, run…

_BANG!_

A bullet flew over Rukia's right shoulder.

Eyes widened in shock, the petite Kuchiki glanced over her shoulder just to find their pursuers still hot on their heels—they were just a few feet away behind them. Damn, those guys sure could stick to them like a stamp glued on a letter. It was really hard to shake them off. What a pain in the—

_BANG! BANG!_

And, God, couldn't they stop shooting?! Those pretty little bullets had almost hit her for several times now. Besides, those damned bang bang sounds were starting to get on her nerves. First, she was forced to run like hell down the dim, seemingly never-ending alleys leading to who-knows-where by Ulquiorra; second, she was tired, her legs were about to give up soon, and her lungs felt as though it'd explode at any moment; third, she was chased by some guys who had short temper and homicidal urge. Very 'nice' and definitely 'unique' experience for her first school trip, right…

"Tch."

Rukia heard Ulquiorra clicked his tongue. Ha, even the Iceman had his limit, and his patience was getting thinner now—so was Rukia's.

Suddenly, Ulquiorra took another turn to the right sharply, pulling Rukia with him. The girl gasped in pain as the green-eyed boy yanked her hand to make her follow his lead.

Seeing their prey took another turn, Ilfort growled in frustration. It was like a sick hunting game between cat and mouse in a maze. And apparently, his partner just added his frustration by shooting at their prey every now and then, waking up half of the residences around there in the process. They'd better be quick and catch her before one of the civilians who was woken up by the sound of the stupid Edrad's revolver call the police. And so the blond guy quickened his pace.

"We'd better be hurry, Brother," Ilfort managed to say between his quite-ragged breaths, his tone deadly serious this time.

Edrad just gave him an incoherent grunt as a reply. He was pretty pissed that he hadn't managed to hit any of those little brats they were chasing yet.

The two partners quickly took the same turn that Ulquiorra took a moment ago. And soon, they both cursed out loud when they found the alley was empty; no sign of their prey. Could they be so fast and had run some good feet ahead now?

"Damn!" Edrad muttered again. He then pushed his legs to run as fast as he could, hoping to catch up with the two brats, and keep the irritated Ilfort tailing behind him.

The loud footsteps of the two men echoed along the walls around the alley. And soon, after the footsteps faded at the distance, the silence fell back upon it.

A lean figure clad in white jacket and black trousers came out from the gap between two huge trashcans lined the wall around the alley's entranceway. For a moment, the boy just stood stiffly, his wide, green eyes shining like jades through the gloom surrounding him; he was watching the other end of the narrow alley, where the two pursuers had gone.

'Heh… seems those guys were just all-muscle-no-brain types,' he mused, 'or maybe they're just simply blind…'

Feeling it was safe enough to continue their way, Ulquiorra looked down at the petite figure of Rukia, who was still crouching between two trashcans in front of him.

"Come on," he said, offering his hand to her.

Rukia sighed; grabbing her bags beside her, she took Ulquiorra's pale hand.

And off they ran again.

--###--

After what seemed like hours, Ulquiorra and Rukia stopped at an empty park located a few blocks away from their previous location. Thank God that blond man and his huge partner hadn't found them again.

Catching her breath, Rukia rested her hands on her knees and examined her surroundings. The park, she found, was quite nice. On an ordinary occasion, Rukia would be happy to sit and take a rest on one of those benches around the beautiful fountain. But she couldn't do that now, could she? No, she wouldn't take a rest like a clueless, stupid girl just then; because that meant she was serving herself on a golden plate for those bad guys who were determined to get her in their hands. She and Ulquiorra shouldn't and couldn't rest here.

Wait… If so, then why did he lead her to stop in this park?

Glancing at Ulquiorra with a suspicious look, Rukia wheezed at him, "Hey… Ulquiorra, why did we stop here? Shouldn't we meet up with your so-called friend somewhere?" Oh, she couldn't hide the sarcastic tone, could she?

Ulquiorra cast a sideway look at her. "We're already at that 'somewhere', you know. And my 'so-called friend' must be around here now, waiting for us," he replied calmly—if he didn't have a superb self-control, he surely would have answered Rukia's question with a mutual sarcastic tone.

As if on cue, a male suddenly appeared from behind them and greeted the two; "Took you long enough."

"We had to shake some 'trash' off first, that's why," Ulquiorra said, turning around to face his teal-haired friend who was standing in front of a bunch of thick bushes not so far from where Ulquiorra stood.

Following the pale-skinned boy's gesture, Rukia was quite surprised to find none other than Grimmjow stood there. So, Ulquiorra's so-called friend who was going to help them was this famous troublemaker from their school? Was it really okay to trust him?

Realizing that Rukia's wide, purple eyes were staring at him as if he was some sort of alien or a new species, Grimmjow snickered. "Stop giving me that look, Midget, I'm here to help this Emo saving your fucking life, you know," he said mockingly.

Rukia's eyes narrowed slightly, "What did you just call me, Bastard?" How dare he call her a midget!

Grimmjow twitched in annoyance and anger (another short-tempered person, indeed). Who was she to call him a bastard?

"What? Are you fucking deaf or too fucking stupid to understand my words? Should I repea—"

"Grimmjow," Ulquiorra cut him off. "We have no time for this childish behavior," he said with a slight warning in his melancholic voice, "We'd better get this over with. Very quickly."

Grimmjow snorted upon hearing Ulquiorra's short speech and seeing that smug smirk on Rukia's face. "It's not over yet between us, Midget," he barked to Rukia, turning on his heels and disappearing into the bushes behind him.

"Anytime," Rukia said mockingly, the smirk firm on her lips. Ha! So, the mighty Grimmjow was obedient to Ulquiorra Schiffer? She thought she had just got some great blackmail material on the famous troublemaker in her school.

Sighing silently, Ulquiorra then followed Grimmjow, motioning the petite Kuchiki to come with him as well.

There, behind the bushes, was a quite spacious ground—spacious enough to place a dark blue sport bike there. True, Rukia didn't know much about motor vehicles, but upon seeing the sport bike gleaming under the moonlight, she thought it must be a good one. She liked its elegant yet strong appearance, and she could tell that the bike was designed for some sort of racing purpose.

"It was rather difficult to put her here—keeping her safe from the annoying branches of the bushes wasn't easy—but it's the best place I can find to hide her," Grimmjow said, indicating the sport bike.

Ulquiorra just nodded and approached it. He examined the bike for a moment before turning his gaze to Rukia. He then realized that the girl was only in her pajamas. So, he proceeded to pull off his white jacket, revealing a black, long-sleeved t-shirt underneath it, and handed it to Rukia. "Put this on," he said, "it'll keep you warm."

Rukia took the jacket and put it on silently. Actually, she was a bit taken aback with his concern for her. Ulquiorra couldn't be that nice, right? He was the Ice Cube Dude, after all. Or maybe he actually wasn't as cold as what Rukia had assumed him to be…

"After this, I'll be on my way to Tokyo to help Nel," Grimmjow said, tossing the bike's key to Ulquiorra who already had his helmet covering his head with the dark eye shield over his green eyes. "You won't have any back up from here on, so stop being a fucking chicken and don't get yourself troubled by just some 'lowly trash'," he added mockingly.

"I think you're the one who needs to be worried about," Ulquiorra retorted calmly, handing another helmet to Rukia. "I doubt you can do any good for Nel's task."

"What was that? Did I just hear you beg for a beating?" Grimmjow growled. "Don't forget to keep my dear bike safe! If you cause even a single scratch on her, I swear I'll kill you!"

Ignoring his friend's threat, Ulquiorra swung himself onto the motorcycle and kicked the engine into life. Then, he turned to Rukia. "Get on," he said.

Rukia twitched slightly at the authority held in his voice; she didn't like to be bossed around. But, well, this was definitely not the right time for arguing, so she just obeyed the green-eyed boy and climbed onto the bike, her left hand clutching her bag, while her right one gripped Ulquiorra's t-shirt.

"You'd better hold on tighter," Ulquiorra said.

Clicking her tongue in annoyance, Rukia carefully placed her bag between her stomach and Ulquiorra's back so that it wouldn't fall during the ride. Then, she hesitantly latched her arms around Ulquiorra's waist. Rukia was quite surprised to find that Ulquiorra, albeit his lean appearance, was quite muscular—though not as muscular as that teal-top jerk over there, but still! Oh God… she could feel those muscles of his abs beneath the black fabric of his t-shirt. Rukia felt herself go red, and she could hear Grimmjow snicker upon seeing her flushed.

Still with a red face, Rukia glared at Grimmjow, only to earn a huge mocking grin from said boy. Rukia swear she could hear the jerk mumble something that sounded like, "Interesting."

'Go boil your head, Grimmjow,' Rukia thought.

Ulquiorra, who was oblivious to the exchanges between his two companions—or simply ignored them, drove the bike out of its hiding place after he decided that Rukia's hold was firm enough. With a roar, the bike sped onto the road, leaving Grimmjow in the dust behind.

"The Midget and the Emo. Funny couple," Grimmjow muttered and walked off the park, a devilish grin spread over his lips.

--###--

At first, their ride was smooth (as smooth as possible for a bike driven at 160 km/hour). But when they reached a suspension bridge, two black cars showed up behind them. And the cars in question started trying to pass them in order to block their way.

"Back up…" Rukia heard Ulquiorra murmur as he caught a glimpse of the cars.

The cars tried and tried, but after a while, they found that it was futile because Ulquiorra didn't even let them to get near. He kept moving the bike through narrow spaces between the vehicles on the road, slipping from one to another, like a butterfly dancing trough the small holes in a spider's web—avoiding every sticky yarn on its way. It was dangerous, indeed, but very effective at confusing the enemy.

Frustrated, the enemy decided to change their tactics; the men in the damned cars started raining them with bullets, which mostly were aimed for the bike's tires.

And it led Rukia into a (rather unimportant) question: what's with today and bullets?

'Must be 'National Shoot-the-Kuchiki Day',' Rukia thought sarcastically as she tightened her arms around Ulquiorra's waist and shut her eyes tight. Really, the sounds that came from the guns were irritating and frightening at the same time.

But Rukia was grateful that Ulquiorra was proven to be a skilled rider; he managed to dodge the shots, and he kept them both untouched with that dancing-like maneuver. But the petite Kuchiki wasn't really sure as to how long they could dodge those bullets coming for them in a rain-like way.

Suddenly, she felt Ulquiorra made a sharp turn to the left, barely braking in the process. And just like that, everything became silent; the whistles of bullets and the buzzing sounds came from the cars on the road had gone, replaced by the swishing sounds of the wind whipped around them. Curiously, Rukia opened her purple eyes, and she found that they had passed the bridge and were speeding down another empty alley in Kyoto. Rukia glanced back and saw the two cars had stopped in front of the entranceway of the alley. Ah, surely a car couldn't get through a narrow space like this…

"This feels like a déjà vu…" Rukia muttered, staring at the dirty wall on the left side of the alley. "Is it 'National Shoot-the-Kuchiki Day' or 'National Running-away-through-an-alley Day'?"

Ulquiorra just ignored the utterly stupid comment from the petite girl behind him and increased the speed of the bike instead. And for the first time since they met, Rukia didn't really mind being ignored by the stoic boy, she didn't even bother to yell at him for ignoring her. After all, the quicker Ulquiorra brought her to a safe place—her home, the better.

So, the rest of their ride was in silence; Ulquiorra focused on driving the bike at a high speed through one alley after another and avoiding the main road where the chance to get caught by the enemy was pretty high, while Rukia just busied herself with her own thoughts—mostly about what had happened to her since the first time she arrived in Kyoto.

--###--

In the northern part of Kyoto, in the area named Tango area, there was a small shop specialized in selling furisode and komon kimonos—the Urahara Shoten. And right now, a man with a green-stripped bucket hat named Urahara Kisuke—the owner of Urahara Shoten—was standing in front of the shop, tapping his foot against the hard pavement beneath him and fanning himself with his ever-present fan. His dark green coat fluttered behind him as the wind passed by, his dark blue eyes looked blankly at the empty street in front of his shop. Urahara, was waiting for someone… and this someone was late; according to the information he got from Grimmjow a moment ago, he should have been here now. Did he get some trouble on his way here?

Suddenly, he heard a roar of an engine came from afar. Soon, he saw a dark blue sport bike coming at him with such speed that made Urahara question why the police hadn't caught the bike's rider yet. But apparently, Urahara had no time to wonder about it because he suddenly heard the brakes squeal, nearly deafening him in the process, and the dark blue bike came to an abrupt stop right in front of him.

"Geeze, Schiffer-san, with the way you drive, I'm sure someday you'll get yourself caught by the police," Urahara said with a smile. "By the way, you're a bit late. Why's that?"

Ulquiorra lifted the helmet's eye shield up and stared blankly at the, man stood in front of him. "Trash got in our way, Urahara-san," the green-eyed boy answered.

"Ah, I see," he said. "Well then, let's get inside and have a little talk." With that, Urahara made his way toward the shop.

As the green-coated figure of Urahara disappeared behind the shop's door, Rukia hissed suspiciously to Ulquiorra, "Who's that man? And why are we here? I thought you're going to take me home when you said you wanted to save me!"

"I believe my exact words were 'I'm here to save you' not 'I want to save you'. And yes, I'll take you to your home, but not now. Right now, I have a matter to discuss with Urahara-san," Ulquiorra said in a bored tone.

Rukia growled, purple eyes narrowing dangerously. "Screw your words! And how am I supposed to trust you if you keep hiding everything from me?! Come to think of it, I don't even know who you _really_ are, Ulquiorra Schiffer!"

There went a pregnant silence.

After a moment, Ulquiorra spoke, "I can explain everything to you latter. But for now, just get off the bike and follow Urahara-san inside, I have to hide this bike on the back of the shop first."

For a while, Rukia just glared at the boy; she was pondering whether to trust him and do what he said or not. But then, she sighed and climbed off the bike with her bag clutched in her right hand. "Fine. But you owe me a long, long explanation, Ulquiorra."

The raven-haired girl took a deep breath and encouraged herself to come into the shop. Once she was inside, she took the helmet off her head so that she could see the room more clearly. The shop, she noted, was not so big, but it was very neat and traditionalistic. Rukia's purple eyes roamed the shop, trying to find that green-coated man, Urahara, but unfortunately, he was nowhere to be found. Except the kimonos, the only thing she found there was a sliding door across the room. So, Rukia stalked toward the said door and opened it in hope to find Urahara.

Poking her head inside, Rukia found a long corridor with some other sliding doors on the both sides of it. Then, she called out, "Uhm… Excuse me?"

"Just come here, Kuchiki-san!" Urahara's voice came floating through the sliding door directly on Rukia's left.

Rukia was stunned. 'He knows my name?' she gulped.

She didn't really know if she could trust this man or not, but she decided to give him a try. So, she strode over to the door, opened it and stepped into the room, which she found out to be a living room. Just like the shop, this room was in traditional style as well—tatami flooring, shoji covering the window, and small, short table in the middle of the room, right in front of a TV set. And there, sat facing the small table, was none other than Urahara.

"Please, sit down," Urahara said casually, eyes glued on Rukia. "Make yourself comfortable."

Rukia nodded and sat down on a sitting pillow across him, putting the helmet and her bag next to her. She was pretty cautious; if this man proved to be untrustworthy, then she would immediately take her leave. That was why her sitting position was so stiff, because she prepared her body to kick the sliding door behind her off its sill and run out of the room at any moment if the situation forced her to do so.

As if he could read her mind, Urahara smiled. "No need be so cautious like that, Kuchiki-san. I assure you, I'm not a bad guy. I'm just a mere honest, handsome, perverted merchant," he said.

Hearing the 'perverted' part, Rukia's face twisted cynically. What kind of man who had just confessed that he himself was a pervert? But she had no time pondering about it because her thought was interrupted by the sound came from the sliding door. And when she glanced over her shoulder to see who was coming, she met face to face with a little girl whose black hair was pulled into pigtails.

"Tea," the little girl whispered shyly as she brought the tray with three cups of tea on it into the living room. She then put the cups onto the small table.

"Thank you, Ururu," said Urahara.

Rukia just smiled to thank the little girl whose name was Ururu.

Ururu just bowed politely to the two people sat around the table. She then asked Urahara, "Should I call Okaa-san, Otou-san?"

Urahara nodded, "Yes please. I'm sure Schiffer-san would like to ask her advice as well."

"Okay then." With that, Ururu left the room.

"Ah, sweet, little daughter of mine," Urahara murmured more to himself.

When the door was pushed open again a second latter, it was Ulquiorra who stepped into the room with his usual blank look, as if nothing had happened this night.

"Ah, Schiffer-san, done with the bike?" Urahara greeted the boy.

Ulquiorra didn't bother to answer the elder man; he just sat down on Rukia's left. "Where's your wife?" he asked flatly.

"Ururu is waking her up. Would you like to start discussing whatever it is you want to discuss with us now or should we wait for Yoruichi first?"

"Let's wait for Yoruichi-san," Ulquiorra said, closing his eyes and crossing his arms in front of his chest.

Urahara nodded. "Well then, as we wait for my wife, how about we use the spare time for you, Kuchiki-san?" he asked cheerily to the raven-haired girl sat across him.

"Pardon?" Rukia blinked.

"Well, I suppose it sucks for you to be chased around like a criminal for a reason that you don't even know, am I correct? Besides, I'm sure that Schiffer-san here must hasn't explained anything to you," —Urahara grinned to Ulquiorra who merely clicked his tongue— "He must thinks that it's unnecessary to explain the details about his mission to you—well, everything outside 'succeeding the mission' is unnecessary for him. And I bet you're dying to know what the hell is happening to you, right?"

Rukia stunned. Was this man an oracle? "Uh… yeah, he hasn't told me anything yet. And I have a bunch of questions in my mind now," Said Rukia with an extra glare to Ulquiorra.

"So," Urahara spoke again, "Why don't let me explain the trouble you're facing right now for you? And then you can ask any questions you have in mind, I and Schiffer-san will try to answer them."

"Well, that sounds good for me," Rukia said.

"Okay. So, do you know why those people are pursuing you?" Urahara asked, earning a bold 'no' from Rukia. "Hmm…. You have to know that the root of this chaos you're facing is a strange letter gotten by your father, Kuchiki Byakuya, three months ago."

Rukia's eyes widened at the mentioning of her father's name, and a how-could-he-knew-my-father's-name-too written all over her face. "Strange… letter?"

"Yes. There was no name written on the envelope, but it was clearly directed to your father, because he found it perched neatly on his desk that morning when arrived in his office," Urahara explained.

"What did it say?" Rukia asked curiously, wondering why her father hadn't told anything about it to her, and whether her mother had already knew about this or not.

This time, it was Ulquiorra who answered her question, "One word: 'Murderer'."

And Rukia's purple eyes went wide in shock.

--TO BE CONTINUED--

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A/N:**__ Huuft.... Finally! Chapter 7! Banzaiiiii!!! *__dancing like a madman* Sorry for the late update. *bows*_

_Anyways, I want to thank all the readers who has kept up with this fic until it finally reached the seventh chap! :) You guys are the best!! Every single review you've given to me is like a drop of precious water in the middle of a never-ending desert that keeps me alive! XD_

_And special thanks goes to Cat Alex for her hard work on beta-ing this chap! _:D

_So, review please? :)  
_


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